


Dancing on the Edge of Death

by Serriya (Keolah)



Series: Dancing on the Edge of Death [1]
Category: Freelancer, Furry - Fandom, Warhammer 40.000
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Complete, Cybernetics, Genetic Engineering, Humanoid Animals, Humor, Love Triangles, Minor Character Death, Multi, NaNoWriMo, No Canon Knowledge Required, Novel, Original Character-centric, Psychic Abilities, Rabbits, Romance, Smuggling, Space Pirates, Swearing, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-11-01
Updated: 2004-11-30
Packaged: 2017-11-13 12:12:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 79
Words: 99,421
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/503424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keolah/pseuds/Serriya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kalli May, farmgirl turned adventurer, seeks to see the galaxy. She winds up getting caught up in a plot involving an insane Koala, killer bunnies from outer space, an evil bald guy, and Mr. Ian Woon. Things blow up. Lampshades are hung.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Unlikely Heroes, Out for Adventure. Or at least some quick credits.

It was a dark and stormy night. Well, maybe not so dark. And maybe it wasn't particularly stormy either. And it really wasn't quite night yet, it was more of late evening, as the larger of the two suns of the Primo planet of Secundus had already set, leaving the smaller, dimmer one in the sky behind it. There was a light drizzle falling in the sky, which didn't serve to help matters much other than to make an already miserable day even moreso. 

Kalli May sighed and glanced at the sky, watching for any incoming ships that might hire her on as an escort or something. "Miserable planet," she muttered, mainly to herself. "Almost makes me wish I'd never left home." She leaned against her angular Griffon-class fighter, and immediately wished she hadn't, as the net effect of this was primarily to increase the moisture in the elbow of her shirt. 

"Maybe you should invest in an umbrella," said a male voice from behind her. 

Kalli turned around to see a man dressed as a pilot, the typical browns and blues that were common in this part of space. "I hadn't been planning on staying here that long." 

"Planning on going somewhere, or would you be interested in a little job?" he asked. 

"I might," she said, trying not to sound too overly eager about it. "What did you have in mind?" 

"I'm hauling a load of coronite out to the Darwin system. You seem to have a capable ship there. Interested in flying escort?" 

It would be a chance to get off this filthy ball of rock at least. "Sounds good to me. When do we leave?" 

"Whenever you're ready. I'm all loaded up and ready to go, but my planned escort appears to have been indisposed at the present time." 

"I'm ready," Kalli said. "I'll meet you in space, then?" 

"Great. Let's go." The man turned and headed toward a freighter, and Kalli was already in the cockpit before she realized she hadn't even gotten his name. 

Once in space, his voice came over the comm. "Great. I've laid in a course for the jump gate to Sydney. I'm transmitting it to you now." 

"Received and laid in," Kalli said, heading off along the course. "I don't believe I caught your name, sir." 

The man chuckled. "I'm Jake Walker, but I don't think I caught yours either." 

"My name is Kalli. Kalli May." 

"That's an unusual name. Where are you from?" 

"Nowhere important. Out on the fringes of nowhere, really." 

"Ah, I see," Jake said. "You been around this part of space much?" 

"Nope, not really. I set out to 'explore the universe' and 'seek adventure'. Hah. What a joke. Hardly got as far as Secundus before I ended up broke and out of luck. Maybe my mother was right and I should have stayed at home..." 

"Ah, it's not so bad out here. And there's plenty of adventure to be found if you know where to look. Although it usually has a habit of getting people shooting at you a lot." 

They reached the jump gate, a huge construction of metal and equipment that connected the different systems together. The gates were wide open, allowing Kalli to look into the swirling miasma that lay within. She entered the circular gate first, the kaleidescopic effect opening into a rippling tunnel around her ship. After a few minutes through the tunnel, the fighter emerged in normal space again and flew out of a similar jump gate on the other side. 

"Here we are, Sydney," Jake said over the comm. "Next stop, Darwin. There's our next course." New lines flashed on Kalli's map as she received the data from him. 

"Right-o," Kalli replied, flying off away from the jump gate. 

As they flew on through the system and approached the planet Sydney, they were approached by a squadron of Karzan Military fighters. "Unidentified vessels, please transmit identification data and submit to a cargo scan." 

"This is independent freighter pilot Jacob Walker. I'm carrying coronite to the Darwin system." 

"Cargo scan comes up negative," said a different voice, another member of the squadron. "Scanners are disrupted normally, coronite match positive. The escort is empty." 

"Very well. You may proceed, Mr. Walker. Have a nice diurnal period." 

"Thanks, you too," Jake said with almost a hint of irony in his voice. "Let's go, Kalli." 

Kalli turned her ship on past planet Sydney and along the course toward the next jump gate. "What was that all about?" she asked him over the comm. 

"Oh, they were just making sure we weren't carrying any contraband, like illegal drugs or something." 

"No, I mean the coronite. What _is_ coronite, anyway?" 

Jake chuckled softly. "Sweet Mother's tits, I could have been carrying drugs and you'd never know the difference, would you? Anyway, coronite's a mineral, fairly rare. It disrupts sensors. That's why I needed an escort, of course. My sensors don't work either with it on board." 

"Oh, I see," Kalli said, still fairly confused. "Why would anyone want it then?" 

"Some people pay a lot of money for their privacy," Jake explained. "Whether people use it to shield top secret military installations or space brothels, I don't know or really care." 

Kalli glanced down at her scanner readout. "I'm picking up several ships on long-range sensors, in that asteroid field to the left." 

"What class of ships? What faction?" 

"Can't tell at this distance. They look to be fighters though, and on an intercept course." 

"Stay alert. Keep on course. Let me know who it is as soon as they're in range," Jake told her. 

Kalli nodded, then remembered he couldn't see her nodding, and said, "Right." She watched the ships approach, staying on course toward the gate. "I've got a readout. They're Raven-class fighters." 

"Ravens, hmm? Alright, don't worry about it." 

Confused, Kalli said, "If you say so." They looked--and acted--suspiciously like pirates, however. She couldn't imagine what they wanted if it wasn't to attack them for their cargo. Her sensors picked up Jake's freighter sending a signal to the ships, and they broke off course and headed back into the asteroid field. "They're heading back into the rocks." 

"Great," Jake said. "Let's get to the gate now, shall we?" 

"What was that all about?" Kalli said. "What did you say to them?" 

"Don't worry about it. I'll explain once we get to Darwin." 

Kalli, thoroughly confused and frustrated, merely sighed and maintained course for the jump gate. "Alright, but you owe me an explanation." 

"Sure thing, babe. Sure thing."


	2. Male Kangaroos Don't Have Pouches. "He" is actually a hermaphrodite.

After several long hours of flying, they landed on planet Darwin finally. Jake had given her coordinates to where to land, and it was a small out-of-the way place she presumed was a private landing platform to which he'd deliver his coronite. Upon landing, Kalli climbed out of her ship and strode over to wbere Jake's ship had landed. It was very windy here but at least it wasn't raining. 

"Nice flight," Jake said. "That wasn't so bad, was it?" 

Kalli pulled her wind-blown hair out of her face and opened her mouth to demand an explanation finally, but was interrupted by a voice behind her. "Ah, there you are, Jake! I was wondering when you'd get here." She turned to see a man covered in fur, with a thick tail and a red shirt, and a conspicuous lack of pants. She had heard of these. They were called Furries, and were humans genetically engineered with the traits of animals. However, she was uncertain exactly what species this one was. 

Jake grinned faintly. "Yeah, I ran into an unexpected delay out in Coventry." 

"Pity. Glad you're here in one piece, though. Did you bring it?" 

"Bring what?" Jake said with a hint of amusement. 

"You know," the Furry said impatiently. "The muse, the words, the nano? Did you bring it?" 

Kalli quirked an eyebrow questioningly, but said nothing. Jake glanced at her and said to the Furry, "Yeah, Tom, it's in the hold." He went over and opened the hold, the others following to take a look. Inside there were many crates stacked upon one another, outlined with a faintly glistening amber-colored material. 

Tom went over to one of them and opened it to verify the contents. "Excellent," he said. He motioned over some other people with anti-gravity lifters to unload the ship. "Here is your payment, as promised." He pulled out some plastic cards from a pouch on his belly and handed them to Jake. 

"Thanks for the escort," Jake said to Kalli, handing her one of the cards absently. She glanced at it and her eyes opened wide when she saw that it read "10,000 credits". It was more money than she'd ever had in her life. 

Kalli sighed and grabbed Jake's arm and said to Tom, "Excuse us." She dragged Jake over toward the side of his freighter. He was a bit bemused and didn't offer any resistance. "We need to talk," she said. 

Jake smiled at her and said, "Yep, I suppose we do." He opened the hatch of the freighter and said, "Let's take a seat inside." 

Kalli stepped inside out of the wind and sat down across from him. "You're not hauling coronite, are you," Kalli said, without a hint of a question in her voice. 

"Nope, not really. Technically, the _crates_ are made of coronite. Or at least partly." 

Kalli smirked. "You may think me fairly naive, but I'm not _stupid_. What, exactly, did you really bring here?" 

"Nanowrimo," Jake explained. "It's a drug. Some Glyphans swear by it, claim it enhances creativity and provides inspiration. I say it just makes them write long, nonsensical novels in a short period of time, but they're willing to pay well for it so I'll not complain. I don't have to read them after all." 

Kalli sighed, leaning back in her seat and tapping the ten thousand credit card against the table. It might be technically against the law, but she couldn't think that it could be particularly harmful. "So you're a smuggler, then." 

"Yeah, you could say that," Jake said casually. "When I need some quick cash and aren't doing anything else at least." 

Kalli stared at the credits for a long while. She considered briefly just throwing it at him and telling him the deal was off, but she needed the money. She also considered just taking it and going back home, but she did still want to see the universe in some way or another. 

"Understandably," Jake went on, "I don't really want people going off and telling the Military what I do, you know?" 

"Naturally," Kalli repeated hollowly. 

"Sorry," Jake said. "I don't want to sound like I'm forcing you into anything. I'm not exactly holding a gun to your head, I just want to make sure you don't go run off blabbing to the wrong people, right?" 

"Of course," Kalli muttered, still staring at the money. 

"Although if you wanted to stick with me, I could still use an escort for some more runs. Moving things from here to there. People always want stuff moved. Good way to see the universe, I suppose. Some of them are even legal." 

It was very tempting. She didn't much want to wander around the galaxy alone and end up broke again. It didn't sound too tough. With a sigh, she shoved the ten thousand credits in her pocket and said, "Alright. I'm in." 

"Great," Jake said, smiling broadly and clapping her on the shoulder. "Anything else you want to know?" 

Kalli thought for a moment. "What happened to your other escort?" 

Jake's smile faded. "Ah, right. We were attacked in the Coventry system. It's easier to pull off claiming you're hauling coronite _away_ from the Lorres system and not into it. So the Military came after us. We escaped with our lives and cargo intact, but Mike's ship was badly damaged so he put down in Lorres for repairs." 

"You couldn't have found another escort in Lorres?" 

"I did, but she only took me as far as Secundus and then ran off saying something important had come up," Jake smirked. 

"So what's next on the agenda, then?" Kalli asked. 

"I was thinking to stay here for the night and rest up, then head back to Lorres and see how Mike's repairs are coming along. And if he's ready, head out for another run somewhere. No offense, babe, but if it comes to fighting, I want the Death Dancer at my side. Nobody should bother us getting back to Lorres, particularly if we carry pharmaceuticals or something." Kalli nodded. Jake said, "Okay. Let's see if they're finished unloading the cargo yet." 

He opened the hatch and hopped out onto the platform again and headed back to the back of the ship, Kalli following. Some people were still hauling crates off the ship. "Just three more left," Tom said. 

"Great. I don't think I've properly introduced you. Tom, this is Kalli May, my escort." Kalli nodded to him. "Kalli, this is Thomas Gerlock, a member of the Darwin chapter of Glypha. We'll be staying planetside for the night." 

"Excellent. I shall arrange rooms for you if you like," Tom offered. 

"No, thank you, I believe we'll just stay at the hotel in town. We'll need to pick up some pharmaceuticals to haul back to Lorres anyway." 

"As you wish. Good rest."


	3. Koalas Opposing Conspicuous Lack of Pants.

The hotel was comfortable and Kalli was glad for the chance to clean up and sleep in a real bed for once. After getting a good rest, she joined Jake for breakfast at a nearby cafe. As they ate, another Furry of a different sort than Tom came up and handed them pamphlets. He was wearing a tight business suit with an elegant red tie. 

"You should support KOCLOP," he said. "With every donation of one thousand credits, you will receive a free video describing the benefits of--" 

"We're not interested," Jake grunted, handing the pamphlet back to him. 

Kalli glanced at hers. It read, "Koalas Opposing Conspicuous Lack of Pants," and had a picture of a Furry like Tom on the front with a red circle with a diagnol line through it. 

Momentarily, Tom himself came through the door and walked up to them saying, "Hey Jake, I thought I'd meet you for breakfast since you were still around!" 

The Koala turned to him and said, "Your lack of pants disturbs me." 

"Bah, what do I need pants for when I have a pouch?" Tom retorted. "Waiter! Bring me some worfberry pancakes, please." He sat down at the table next to Kalli. 

"You Kangaroos should not be allowed to walk around in public dressed so _indecently_ ," the Koala went on. "It is a travesty to civilization. You thumb your noses at high culture!" 

Kalli quietly ate her cheese omelette and attempted to ignore them. She was trying politely not to stare, as there hadn't been any Furries on her home planet of Balzac. She knew they were people just like anyone else, of course. Although she couldn't imagine why they wouldn't want to wear pants. Maybe it was just more comfortable for them, what with those tails and pouches and all. 

The waiter came with Tom's pancakes, smothered in a dark reddish sauce and decorated with small berries, topped with whipped cream, and said to the Koala, "Don't you think you should leave our nice patrons to eat in peace? Please preach your propaganda outside, thank you." 

Indignantly, the Koala went ouside again. Tom said, "Thank you, sir. I thought he'd never leave." He began to eat heartily. 

"Are they always that annoying?" Jake asked. 

"Some of them," Tom said. "Say, have you heard? They're planning on opening up mining in the Rath system again." 

"Really?" Jake said, nibbling on his bacon. "I thought they'd dismissed that as unprofitable." 

"Apparently there's a demand among the rich for luminite now. Must be getting trendy again. I suppose that fad will die out in a few years anyway. That would be a great subject to write a book about!" Tom said, gesturing wildly with his fork. "Bold Kangaroo discovers new uses for luminite! Becomes galactically renowned scientist!" 

"Yeah, I'm sure," Jake chuckled. 

After a while, they finished eating, and Jake paid the bill and made sure the waiter was given a healthy tip. They parted ways with Tom, and headed for their ships. Kalli found that her ship was already loaded and ready to go, the small cargo hold filled with boxes marked with medical symbols. They launched into space. Kalli watched as the blue and green ball that was planet Darwin fell away below her. 

Their cargo was scanned for contraband near the jump gate to Sydney. The Military ships let them pass without more than a cursory glance upon seeing they weren't hauling what they were looking for. They reached the jump gate without any hassle and entered the artificial wormhole that would take back them to the Sydney system. 

"What was it about those ships we passed on the way here yesterday?" Kalli asked over the comm. 

"Those Ravens?" Jake said. "Yeah. Local pirates, looking for an easy target no doubt. I'm on good terms with them so I just told 'em who I was and they left us alone. No doubt they didn't recognize your ship as my usual escort. Mike prefers to fly a Sabre." 

"I suppose I'm going to have to meet this 'Mike'," Kalli commented dryly. 

"He's a great guy. Excellent pilot, really knows his way around a fight. You could learn a thing or two from him if you're so inclined, maybe. He's a Death Dancer, as well." 

"A Death Dancer?" Kalli wondered. 

"What, don't tell me you've never heard of those either?" 

"Well, yeah, I have. But I didn't think one would be working for pirates or smugglers. I thought they worked for the Karzan Empire." 

"Heh. Not all of 'em, babe, just like not every Glyphan thinks drugs are a suitable replacement for actual creativity. There's some Death Dancers who would like nothing better than to see the Karzan Empire crumble. Although in many cases they claim that's because it reduces the challenge and makes everything entirely too safe for their tastes, so they work against them for the sheer danger of it." 

As they reached the jump gate to Secundus hours later, Kalli asked, "Why don't they put the jump gates closer together, anyway?" 

"Eh. I'm not too sure," Jake answered. "I'm sure there must be some technical reason for it, but I'm no scientist. Maybe they interfere with one another if they're too close or something?" 

"Meh. It seems awfully inconvinient," Kalli said as she entered the gate. 

Once on the other side, Jake chuckled and said, "You don't know the meaning of inconvenient yet. Just wait till you see the jump hole network. Next stop, the Lorres system."


	4. An Ominous Interlude.

Donovan Blake stared at the crystal. It was radiant and golden, alive with its own glow, sparkling in the faint light of the chamber and sending rays of vibrant light against the walls. The sight was simultaneously beautiful and hypnotic. 

"So this is luminite," Donovan said, holding it aloft in his hand to catch and refract more of the light in the room. It seemed to multiply even the smallest hint of light. 

"Yes, Lord Blake," said the human behind him. Donovan turned and peered up at the man. Koalas were not a tall race, and Donovan was not particularly tall even for a Koala. 

"So, Mr. Penner," Donovan began pacing back and forth in front of the man, gesturing with the chunk of crystal. "You believe that you have discovered some purpose for this mineral aside from those currently in use today? I have no need or desire for new lighting fixtures or jewelry." 

Richard Penner nodded. "Yes, my lord. I believe I have found a way to use luminite as a potent power source far beyond anything we have presently available." 

"This is most excellent, Mr. Penner," Donovan said, tapping the crystal. "With sufficient power, we would be capable of overwhelming and taking control of the Empire easily. I want you to get to work on this new invention immediately." 

"Indeed, my lord. I will begin work on a new class of ship that can take advantage of the increased power output from proper use of the luminite." 

"Do so. We will also in the near future need to obtain a large quantity of luminite in order to properly supply this project. With the Empire starting excavations in the Glittergold Asteroid Field again in response to what they believe to be merely the trends of the rich, we will simply have them do our work for us. Then, when they've mined the luminite and are sending it, we will seize it for our own purposes! Go now, Mr. Penner. Show me your super-fighter when you have a prototype ready. I will be waiting." 

"Yes, Lord Blake. It shall be done." The man turned and left the chamber. 

Donovan turned and went out onto his balcony overlooking the dark waters of Darwin. A silvery crescent moon hung in the sky, setting the luminite crystal to twinkle faintly like a beacon in the night. 

"This all shall be mine soon," Donovan said to the air. "Darwin, the Empire, the entire galaxy! They shall bow before my power, and I shall make those filthy Kangaroos finally wear pants!" 

"Um, Don? You're talking to yourself again." 

He turned around to see Meg standing at the archway to the balcony. She was a cute little Koala, dressed up in frilly pink lace. "Ah, Meg, there you are. Shouldn't you be in bed this late?" 

"I'm fine, Don. I just wanted to see you." Meg smiled sweetly. 

"No, no, you should go inside, you'll catch your death of cold out here. It's starting to get quite chilly again. Come now, come." He strode inside and ushered her down the stairs to a snug little room with a fireplace. It didn't burn real wood, of course, but it set off ample heat and let off a cozy red glow, which was reflected by the shimmering luminite crystal in his hand. 

"But I'm not tired, Don," she protested. 

"Shh, my dear. Lay down, be still." He pulled the sheets up and tucked her in tightly. "There now, my dear Meg. Sleep well." Donovan gave her a soft peck on the forehead and left the room. The door made a soft clicking sound behind him as he locked it securely. "She will be safe. No one will bother her now. Yes. Safe. Completely safe."


	5. Meet Michael Pratt, of the Dancers on the Edge of Death.

Kalli and Jake arrived in the Lorres system after travelling through Secundus. It was getting late by her ship's internal time and she was fairly tired. She glanced down at her scanner readout and found one barely habitable planet nearby and a large asteroid field which her sensors could not penetrate. 

"Where abouts in the system are we going?" Kalli asked over the comm as they flew away from the jump gate. 

"We're heading into the Cryces Asteroid Field. As you may already have noticed, it's rich in coronite, so we'll be flying blind in there. I'll upload coordinates to you once we're inside. Just don't run into anything." 

Kalli raised an eyebrow and said, "Alright." She flew her ship in toward the dark brownish-amber rocks. As the asteroids surrounded her ship, her sensors went completely dead. She wasn't very experienced with flying on sight alone like this, and the asteroids themselves were a bit hard to spot. 

"Coordinates uploaded. Be careful. At least you've got a more maneuverable ship than this bucket of bolts." Jake's freighter turned and began flying off in that general direction. 

Kalli put her shields on full and flew slowly and carefully through the asteroid field. She managed to avoid the bigger rocks and her shields deflected the smaller ones. Slowly her ship approached the specified coordinates. As she drew near, a large asteroid became clear at the specified coordinates, and she could make out weapons turrets and docking bay doors. 

"Whoa," Kalli murmured. "What is this, some sort of base?" 

Jake chuckled. "That it is." His freighter flew in to dock at the base. Kalli followed after him. Once safely inside the hangar, they hopped out of their ships. Jake called over to a man with an anti-grav lifter. "Hey, Bill, I've brought in a load of pharmaceuticals for you. In my freighter here and some in my escort, too." He gestured toward Kalli's ship. 

"I'll get right on it, thanks." The man proceeded to start unloading Jake's ship. 

Jake beckoned Kalli to follow and went over across the hangar to a heavy fighter that a repair crew was working on. "Hey, Mike!" Jake called over to a large man supervising the project. He was dressed in a dark blue pilot's shirt with a red symbol which Kalli vaguely recognized as the insignia of the Death Dancers sewn on his front pocket. 

"Jake! Nice to see you back in one piece." He glanced at Kalli briefly. "Where's Talia?" 

"Said something important had come up and left me on Secundus," Jake said. "Mike, meet Kalli May, my new escort. Kalli, this is Michael Pratt, of the Dancers on the Edge of Death." 

Mike went over to her and shook her hand so enthusiastically she felt as though her arm were going to fall off. "It's always a pleasure to meet such a dashing epitome of loveliness." 

"Um. Right," Kalli said, extracting her hand from his grip and pinching it to see if she still had any feeling in it left. 

"Did Talia say where she was going or why?" Mike asked. 

Jake shook his head. "Nope. Was all very mysterious about it. I take it she didn't send a message back here, either, then." 

"Haven't heard anything here either. I'd hope I'd have heard if we had. I'm sure she'll be alright, though. She can take care of herself." 

"Well, yeah, it's not her I was concerned about," Jake said with a smirk. 

"Bah, you don't think _she_ of all people would betray us, do you?" 

"No, not really. Meh. Let's get something to eat and get some rest. Me and Kalli have flown a long way today." 

Mike nodded. "Yeah, I'm getting a bit peckish myself from all this work." They began walking off down a corridor. 

"Heh, what work, watching them fix your ship? How's that coming along, anyway?" 

"They say it should be ready to fly in 12 more hours tops." 

The three of them entered a room that vaguely resembled a mess hall, if only from the mess inside. It also bore a strong resemblance to a bar as well, judging by the lighting and the smoke that stung Kalli's eyes. Oddly-shaped greenish lights overhead cast an eerie glow on the room. A man behind a counter with a thick mustache appeared to be taking orders and pouring drinks. 

"Hey, Joe!" Jake called to the man. "Dinner for three." He grabbed a table and sat down. 

Mike finally said to Kalli, "So, how'd a girl like you land with a piece of scum like Jake?" 

"Got stuck on Secundus and needed some credits," Kalli said dryly. 

"Yeah, that could do it. So, where you from?" 

"The middle of nowhere." 

Mike chuckled. "No, really, what planet?" 

"Um. Balzac," Kalli muttered almost inaudibly. 

"Ah. Yes. I see your point." 

Their food arrived. Kalli had wondered why Jake hadn't specified what food they wanted, and now saw why. She peered at the stuff on her plate, unable to identify whether it was animal, vegetable, or mineral. She poked at it with her spork uncertainly. 

"Just eat it," Jake advised. "It won't bite you. I don't think it was ever actually alive to begin with." 

Kalli nibbled on the tasteless gunk uncertainly. "Are you sure it's edible? It tastes like the bottom of my ship. Not that I know what the bottom of my ship tastes like..." 

Jake chuckled softly and said reassuringly, "I'm sure. Mostly." 

Kalli shrugged and ate the stuff. "So where is it we're flying next?" 

"Well," Mike said. "I'd like to avoid Coventry for the moment, if it's all the same to you." 

"I would have thought you found almost dying out there very enlightening," Jake gently ribbed him. 

Mike smirked. "Just because I'm a Death Dancer doesn't mean I'm suicidal. They'll have an eye out for us there now for the next bit. Let's take a run up to Hamilton, perhaps. See my home again and bring them weapons and supplies." 

"Sounds good to me," Jake said. "Will be a good chance to show Kalli around the jump hole network, too." He pulled out a data pad. "Hmm. Best pick up the weapons here and pick up the food on Darwin. It'll be a long trip and we'll need to rest up there anyway." 

"What's this about the jump holes, anyway?" Kalli asked. "I thought they were generally unstable and not safe to use." 

"Some of them are," Jake explained. "In this line of work, you get to know which ones are safe and go where, and which ones you should stay away from. Either way, there's no other way into the Hamilton system. The Military has the jump gate closely monitored and will assume anything you bring through is meant for them, and take it. Occasionally they even pay you for it. If you want to actually get supplies to the guerillas, you have to use the back door." 

"Is it dangerous?" 

"Probably," Mike said with a grin. "But you'll have me there, so we'll be fine." 

Jake finished his meal and stood up with a yawn. "I'm going to hit the sack, myself. I'll meet you two in here or in the hangar in the morning. Good night now."


	6. Your Chances of Survival Are Higher If You Have a Name.

After taking a look at the small, cramped bunks that passed for sleeping quarters on this base, Kalli decided to just sleep in her ship, as it was roomier. Several hours later, she was slowly woken by the soft rocking of the ship. She yawned, sat up, and looked around to see what was going on, and discovered that her hold had been loaded up with crates of weapons. Upon seeing that it was nothing interesting, she dozed off again relentlessly. 

Some while after that, she woke up again and glanced at the ship's chronometer to determine that it was something vaguely resembling morning on her current cycle. She hopped out of her ship and saw Mike and Jake doing some last-minute checks of the Death Dancer's ship. 

"Kalli!" Jake called over to her. "Didn't see you at breakfast. Not hungry?" 

She vaguely recalled last night's dinner and made a face. "No, I don't think I'm that hungry. When are we leaving?" 

"She looks about as ready to fly as she'll ever be," Mike said, glancing appraisingly over his ship. 

"The cargo's already loaded up," Jake said. "Let's get going, then." 

They boarded their ship and left Cryces Base and headed out onto space. "We'll enter formation once outside the asteroid field," Mike told Kalli over the comm. "Just try to avoid running into anything too big. I don't know how experienced you are with asteroid field navigation, nevermind coronite asteroids." 

"Well, I made it in here in one piece, I should be able to make it out again," Kalli replied. 

"Let's go, then. Meet you at the jump gate." 

Kalli concentrated on avoiding the large asteroids and keeping her ship pointed in the general direction of where the gate was located according to her map. Turning this way and that, she wove her way between the rocks. She thought it was going pretty well and was sure she must be almost out of it when she saw a cluster of huge irregularly-shaped asteroids directly ahead of her. They were too close to pull up with her momentum, even as slow as she was going compared to open space. 

"Shit," she uttered. Thinking fast, she rolled her ship to the side and flew down around the closer asteroid, then pulled up to avoid the second one, passing through the narrow gap between them. 

"Kalli? You okay?" Jake's voice came over the comm. Her heart was racing and she'd forgotten she'd left it on. 

"Well, that was fun," she muttered dryly. Her ship cleared the asteroid field and her sensors slowly came back online. She saw that Jake and Mike's ships had already made it out and were waiting for her, so she entered formation opposite Mike's ship and oriented her ship to match theirs again. 

"Heh," Mike's voice came. "What'd you do, almost run into something?" 

"Almost ran into several rather large somethings," Kalli commented. 

"Did you find it enlightening?" Mike asked coyly. 

"What are you doing, Mike, recruiting?" Jake said in amusement. 

"Nah." 

They reached the gate finally, and flew in together. Kalli felt much more comfortable not so alone out here, and didn't find these fellows at all as objectionable as she might have once thought they would be. They might be criminals, to be sure, but they seemed to her to be good-natured, friendly people, not abusive backstabbing fiends. She didn't feel particularly ashamed about helping them, and they were helping her just as much if not more. 

"Think anyone's gonna stop us out here?" Jake asked when they reached the other side. "May want to take a jump hole just in case." 

"Nah," Mike said. "Nobody should bother us till New Scotland, at least. It's not like we're carrying anything _too_ illegal, after all." 

"Bah, fine. Kalli, you do have weapons on that thing, don't you? Just in case?" 

"Yeah," Kalli said, glancing down at the ship's internal diagnostic briefly. "Can't guarentee they'd actually hurt anything larger than a small rock, but I've got weapons." 

"Hell, if you can _hit_ a small rock, I wouldn't worry too much how much damage you're going to do," Mike commented. 

They reached the jump gate to Sydney without any patrols bothering to scan them. They were well past planet Sydney and nearing the Darwin jump gate when a patrol of five Barracuda-class Military ships approached them. 

"Transmit your designations and submit to a cargo scan," the lead ship demanded. 

Kalli was nervous, her heart racing again, as she punched the transmission button. What if they didn't accept it? What if they wouldn't let them through? She'd never been in a real fight before, and wasn't sure if she could handle it. Sure, she'd had some shooting practice with her uncle, but it wasn't quite the same thing. 

Then a light flashed red on her control panel. The Military ships were powering weapons. Kalli panicked, and flicked power onto her own weapons and broke formation. Her sensors briefly registered that Jake was sending a signal somewhere into the asteroid field. 

Bursts of violet energy shot at the Military ships from Mike's Sabre. Kalli held down the thrusters and flew in toward the attackers, firing toward the nearest one. Her small yellow bolts looked weak compared to Mike's weapons. The enemy ship banked out of the way and avoided the majority of her shots. 

"The Griffon's green," one of the Barracudas said over the comm. "Take it down." 

The ships started firing at her. "Not on your life!" Kalli snarled back. She may not have the strength or firepower of a Sabre, but her ship was fast and maneuverable. She just had to use that to her advantage. 

It was just like target practice, she told herself. She used to practice on moving target buoys back at home. Generally, however, the buoys weren't shooting back at her, and she wasn't using live weapons. She picked one of the Barracudas and closed in, holding her fire on it and keeping it in her sight, trying to bank to avoid taking too many shots from the other enemies. Her target flew off and tried to lose her, but she kept after him. She also noticed that they were shooting at her less. Mike and Jake must have been keeping them busy back there. 

"She's on my tail!" her target said. "I can't shake her." 

"I'm on it," said another one. Her sensors showed him coming up behind her. Then she spotted a missile coming toward her at high speed. Biting off a swear word, she reacted fast and veered off down. Above her, a split second after she did so, the ship she was chasing went up in a fiery explosion as the missile struck it instead. 

"Buttsex you!" growled the ship behind her. He started firing again, and she angled her ship again to fly directly beneath him, upside-down relative to him, firing at him all the while. 

Jake and Mike were holding up. Their ships didn't appear to have taken any substantial damage. One of the other Military ships was missing part of a wing, but the rest were still fighting. She glanced at her long-range sensors and noticed up a group of ships approaching them at high speed. They were Raven-class fighters. 

"Crap, they've got reinforcements coming," another of the Barracudas said. 

"We can take 'em," the leader replied. "The Griffon's too quick. Take out the Sabre." 

The ship behind her broke off and began to focus fire on Mike's ship along with the remaining four. Kalli thought to herself, _They have to have their own reinforcements coming. They're too confident._

"Looks like you could use a hand," said the leader of the Raven squadron over the comm. 

"Nice of you to come," Jake replied. The four pirate ships joined the fray. 

Kalli flew in fast toward another of the Barracudas, trying to pull its attention from Mike. It must have already been taking a good deal of fire as its shields quickly flickered out of existence and her energy pellets began striking hull. This was no target buoy, it was a ship with a real live person inside, and she was using live weapons. Her own shields buckled but held as she took fire from its weapons. Focusing her fire on its weapons, she took them out one at a time. 

"I'm breaking off," said her target. "I'm too badly messed up." 

The Barracuda went on full thrusters and tried to fly off back toward planet Sydney. Kalli focused her fire on its engines. It was just like a target buoy, she kept telling herself. Just like a target buoy. Her shots fell true, and she could hear the man's screams over the comm instants before his ship exploded violently. 

Kalli stared breathlessly at the debris for a moment before turning her ship around sharply back toward where the others were. Her shields were low, but the Military ships were badly outnumbered by now. They had managed to take out one of the Ravens, but were taking heavy fire from Mike. She watched as another of his purple energy blasts ripped into one, slicing through its hull and almost tearing it straight in two. 

She glanced at her long-range sensors paranoidly. Sure enough, there was a group of ships approaching from the opposite direction, from Sydney. More Barracudas. 

"Six Barracudas approaching from Sydney," Kalli said. 

"I see 'em," Mike said, laying into another enemy with heavy fire again. Between him and the Ravens, the last two Barracudas fell quickly. 

"Let's get out of here before they arrive," said the leader of the pirates. They turned and flew off at top speed into the asteroid belt. 

"Excellent idea," Jake commented dryly, flying off after them, Mike and Kalli not far behind.


	7. The Meaning of Death.

With the Raven-class pirate ships in the lead, they arrived shortly at another base carved out of an asteroid, which the pirates said was called Wellington base. Their pursuit had broken off at the edge of the asteroid field and the possibility of more pirates within close proximity, so they managed to make it there unharassed. This base was smaller than the base in the Cryces, but it still served its purpose. 

Kalli was exhausted, both mentally and physically, and was grateful for the chance to stop flying and rest for a bit. 

"Kalli!" That was Mike, approaching from his ship. "You fought well out there." 

"If you say so," she muttered. "I just want a rest. And I'm hungry." 

"Heh. Well, you didn't eat breakfast," Mike said. "Hungry enough to eat space rations?" 

Kalli cracked a faint smile. "That doesn't even sound half bad about now." 

"They taste better when you take some liquor with it," Mike suggested. 

"I'll keep that in mind." 

They went to what passed for a mess hall on this base and she proceeded to take his advice. She wasn't entirely certain if the drink tasted so horrible that she forgot that the rations were supposed to be nasty, or if it just killed enough tastebuds for her to not notice. 

Jake came in the door and sat down at their table. "Well, I sold them some of our cargo at discount as a little thank-you for saving our asses out there." 

"Bah, we could have handled them on our own," Mike said. 

"Yeah, I'm sure," Jake said dryly. "One of their men died out there coming to help us, you know. And being nice about it encourages them to come help us when we _really_ need it." 

Another man came into the room and approached their table. "Hey. There you are." 

"I don't believe we've met," Jake said. "I'm Jake Walker." 

They shook hands. "Dennis McDonald. I see you've gotten the Military after you." 

"Can't imagine why they'd want to kill us," Mike commented lightly. "It's not like we'd ever do anything _illegal_ , after all." 

"Mind if we rest up here for a bit?" Jake asked. "We'll have to take the jump hole to Darwin. The gate will be watched." 

"We don't have any room in the bunks for you," Dennis said. "You'll have to sleep in your ships." 

"That's fine," Jake said. "I'll see you folks in the morning, then." He stood up and left. Mike finished his meal and headed out the door as well. Kalli managed to choke down the rest of her food and followed after them. 

Kalli curled up in her ship and tried to get to sleep. As tired as she felt, she couldn't really manage to even keep her eyes closed. She didn't remember just how long she'd been awake or exactly how long she'd managed to sleep last time she slept. A glance at the chronometer told her that they'd left Cryces Base only ten hours ago, but it felt like forever. 

When she finally drifted off to sleep, she had delusional dreams, replaying the ship she had destroyed blowing up over and over. She didn't know his name, had never even seen his face, but his screams still echoed in her mind. It wasn't necessary to kill him, she thought to herself. He was running away. She could have just let him go. Why did she kill him? Why didn't she just let him go? It seemed the reasonable thing to do at the time, but now she wasn't so sure. 

Finally she sat up, conceding that she wasn't going to get any real sleep this way. A glance at the chronometer told her two hours had passed, but it felt like she hadn't slept at all. She stood up slowly and opened the hatch, climbing out of the ship. The chilly air of the hangar prickled at her skin as she closed the hatch behind her and walked zombie-like toward Mike's ship across from her. 

She went over and opened the hatch. Mike jolted awake and was on his feet in a moment facing her. "Oh, it's just you, Kalli." He relaxed from his fighting stance. "Is there a problem?" 

"Couldn't sleep," she muttered groggily. 

"Well. Come in and close the door, it's cold out there." 

Kalli climbed into the ship and closed the hatch behind her. The Sabre was so much larger than her own little Griffon. She sat down wearily next to him, sighing softly. He put an arm around her reassuringly, and she took some comfort in the warmth of his body. 

"How do you deal with it?" she murmured softly, resting her head on his shoulder. 

"Hmm?" He squeezed her gently, comfortingly. 

"The killing," she whispered. "How do you deal with it?" 

"Well," he said quietly. "Sometimes it's necessary." 

"It wasn't necessary. He was running away. He was running away..." 

"You don't know what might have happened if you'd let him go," Mike said. "He might have been grateful at his life being spared. Or more likely, he'd have reported on every bit of information he'd gathered about us, our strengths, our weaknesses, and used them against us." 

She hadn't thought about that. It made her feel a little bit better. "I don't want to be a liability." 

"You're not, Kalli. You're not. You could be a great pilot one day with practice and experience. You have the talent and the instincts. It's just a matter of putting them to use." 

"And kill more people," she murmured. 

"If necessary." Mike took a deep breath. "I once knew a Death Dancer who took it as a challenge to never actually kill anyone. Not because he had any particular objection to it, but because he felt it more challenging to disable their ships without destroying them and let them remember his greatness. His fame and infamy spread across the galaxy." 

"What happened to him?" Kalli asked. 

"Eventually, the Karzan Military laid an ambush for him. He knew it was an ambush but he was overconfident and thought he could handle it. When he realized that he couldn't win it, he was too proud to flee the area. He took out twenty ships before they finally destroyed him." 

Kalli let her eyes slide close as she listened to him, and before she realized it, she had drifted off to sleep.


	8. Seaweed Never Tasted So Good.

Kalli stirred and woke several hours later, feeling much rested. She slowly climbed out of the Sabre and hopped onto the hangar floor, stretching luxuriously. 

"Oh-ho!" came Jake's voice. "You two already shacking up?" 

"Shut up, Jake," Mike said lightly, poking his head out of the hatch. "You want to eat first, or shall we just get going and get some real food on Darwin?" 

"Assuming we can manage to land on Darwin without getting shot at," Jake said wryly. 

"Ah, that'd be no fun." 

"Yeah. Here's to hoping for a boring trip." Jake turned around and climbed into his freighter. 

Kalli rubbed her eyes a bit and went over and hopped into her Griffon again. They left the base and entered into formation once in space again. Jake's ship led the way off further away from Sydney and past the asteroid field. 

"The jump hole is out this way," Jake said over the comm. "You won't see any gate, Kalli, but your sensors should pick up a gravitational anomaly when we get close enough. It will also probably tell you it's dangerous and to avoid it. Ignore that." 

"If you say so," Kalli muttered. 

Sure enough, after about an hour of flying through open space, her sensors picked up the anomaly at the indicated coordinates. As they came into visual range of it, she could see a swirling and sparkling knot of color that bore some resemblance to the jump gates she had been through. Her scanners flashed a warning about it. 

"Are you _sure_ this is safe?" 

Jake laughed lightly. "Positive. Let's go." 

They flew in formation into the anomaly, which obediently opened up into a tunnel just like the jump gates did, if a bit rougher and more irregular than the artificial ones. It twisted around back and forth like a snake, and seemed to go on for many long minutes before they finally emerged from the tunnel into open space again. 

"Now, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Jake commented as they began to fly off toward planet Darwin. 

"Rather dull, really," Mike put in. 

"That was... interesting," Kalli said. 

"Yeah. I ought to upload you my map, just in case," Jake said. "You shouldn't enter any jump hole you don't absolutely know is safe unless you've no other options. Some of them dead end, or turn back in on themselves and come out at the same place. Some of them will send you into the center of a star, or a high radiation area, or strand you in the middle of nowhere. Some of them don't even stay in one place properly either, or will crush your ship with high gravity." 

"Ah, now you're just scaring her, Jake." 

Kalli smirked. "I'll keep that in mind. And I'd appreciate that map, thanks." 

"Sending now." Her ship's computer notified her that it was receiving and processing data. Then, after a moment, brought up a much more extensive galactic map on screen. 

"Wow. Thanks a lot." 

"Heh. Just don't turn us in or anything now," Mike said with a chuckle. 

"Wouldn't dream of it," Kalli replied. "They'd probably just try to blow me up again anyway." 

"Point, that," Mike said. "I wonder what tipped them off, anyway. Never had trouble getting through here with weapons before." 

"Maybe they got wind of what happened in Coventry?" Jake speculated. 

"Possibly. After all, we didn't kill them all. Some of them got away." 

" _We_ got away, Mike." 

"Details, details." 

"I think we'd be best off avoiding the standard trade routes entirely for the moment," Jake said. "We might still get attacked, of course, but it'll be less likely." 

"Ah, sweet danger. The chance of being attacked at any moment. Doesn't it really make you feel alive?" 

"Yes," Jake said. "Alive, as opposed to dead. And I'd like to stay that way." 

As they flew on toward planet Darwin, Kalli had to think on what Mike was saying. She had known people who would freeze in fear at the prospect of even imagined danger, such as a harmless spider or a snake. She, however, had not been one of them. She'd generally been the one calmly pick up the snake and ask what they were so afraid of. Absently, she missed her old pet snake, who had died a few months before she'd left home. 

Thankfully, they arrived at Darwin without a fight several hours later and set about landing without delay. For a moment, Kalli thought they were going back to the Glyphan hall, but Jake led them off to an island in the middle of one of Darwin's shallow oceans instead. 

"Right, we should be safe here," Jake said after they'd departed their ships and were standing on the landing platform overlooking the water. 

"What is this place?" Kalli asked. 

"This is Oahu, a settlement of Merfolk," Jake explained. "We'll pick up some food rations for Hamilton here." 

"I suppose it's a fish dinner for us tonight, then," Mike said. "Or maybe shrimp. How about some tasty shrimp?" 

"Either sounds good to me," Kalli said. 

They went inside. The building was blue and vaguely liquid and smooth in design. There weren't any rough corners or pointy edges here. Everything blended together with an organic elegance rarely seen on human colonies. Here and there along the floor, there were pools of water which appeared to be fairly deep. Upon reaching a certain one, Jake pressed a button on the wall. 

After a few moments, a scrawny man emerged from the pool of saltwater. He was completely naked, and had greenish-black hair and appeared to have something resembling gills on his back. "Welcome to Oahu, visitors," he said. "How may I help you?" 

"We'd like a nice dinner for three and rooms for the night. Also, if you could arrange forty crates of food rations to be shipped off-world, it'd be appreciated." Jake fished around in his pockets for credits. 

"Very well, that will be nine hundred and sixty credits," the merman said, punching in some numbers on a data pad. Jake handed over a card, and the merman swiped it through the pad. "Your change." He handed it back. "Your dinner will arrive shortly. Please take a seat in the west wing while you're waiting." 

"Thank you," Jake said, pocketing the card again. He headed over toward the wing as the merman splashed back into the water again. They sat down at a table next to a window overlooking the ocean. The sun was setting slowly over this part of Darwin, leaving the seas in a greyish cast. 

"Ah, nice to be on solid ground again," Mike said. "The gravity on those asteroid bases always makes me feel not all there." 

"Heh. So, Kalli, how're you holding up? Having fun yet?" 

"Oh, sure, almost dying, constantly wondering if I'm going to get blown into space, being wanted by the Empire, yeah, loads of fun," Kalli said wryly. 

Mike chuckled. "You don't know the half of it yet." 

"Most likely," she said with a grin. She wasn't entirely certain how she could be so calm and even cheerful with all that had happened in the last few days. But it was just there, and the guys taking it all in stride was getting pretty infectious. It was hard to be upset about anything for long when they were laughing and joking about the same things she might have been upset about. 

A naked merman hopped out of the water shortly and served them their food. It appeared to be fish and seaweed. Kalli was quite glad to have something to eat that wasn't space rations, and made no complaints about it. 

"So, Kalli," Mike said, eating his fish. "Are you planning to become a Dancer on the Edge of Death?" 

Kalli, startled, almost choked on her fish. She wasn't entirely certain how to respond. "Er, I wasn't exactly _planning_ on it. But then, I don't really know much about them, either." 

Jake laughed aloud. "What, are you _still_ trying to recruit her, Mike?" 

"I was just wondering," Mike retorted. He turned back to Kalli. "I'll tell you all about it later, if you like." 

"Alright," she said. "I'd like that." 

The sun had set on Oahu. Somewhere across the water from their window, in the distance, a faint golden light was shimmering on the horizon. "Say," said Jake. "What do you suppose that light is?" 

Mike peered out the window. "I don't know. A city over there? A lighthouse?" 

"One light doesn't make a city. And there's no lighthouses on Darwin, the merfolk won't allow sea-ships." As they watched, the light pulsed and faded, flickering irregularly. "And it's too random for that anyway." 

"Meh. Maybe it's some kid having fun with a flare beacon, or something," Mike said. "Let's go to bed." 

The golden light shimmered more across the water before it suddenly winked out. Jake shrugged and finished up his food. "Sounds good to me."


	9. A Decision Made by Moonlight.

The guest quarters on the little island of Oahu were upstairs, without any watery tunnels directly connecting them with the undersea merfolk. Kalli supposed that this was to allow guests their privacy or something. She didn't particularly mind. They were roomy and comfortable, with a nice view of the water. And the beds were soft, as well. It was a refreshing change from her hard, cramped ship. 

Kalli wasn't particularly tired yet, so she stood for a while at the window staring off at the night-shrouded Darwin waters. Glimmering stars sprinkled the skies above, and a crescent moon adorned the darkness. Everything seemed so calm and peaceful for once. Quiet. And really fairly dull, she realized. She chuckled aloud at herself over that. 

"A nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to stay here," she said to herself. 

"I know exactly what you mean," said a voice from behind her. 

Kalli glanced over her shoulder. "Mike. I didn't hear you come in." 

"Heh," he came up behind her and put an arm around her waist. "You'd better work on that. A good Death Dancer should always be able to tell when somebody's near." 

Kalli smirked, but didn't flinch from his touch. "What makes you think _I'd_ be a good Death Dancer?" 

"I've been watching you." 

"I'm sure you have," Kalli said. "Particularly my lower half, right?" 

Mike laughed aloud. "Well, that too. But you do have such a _nice_ ass." 

"And I suppose one gets a nice ass from sitting in a pilot seat all the time, huh?" 

"Yeah, sure," Mike said. "But it's not really a matter of how good a pilot you are or anything. I suppose it helps, survival-wise, but you could be the worst pilot in the world and you could still be a Death Dancer. Some don't fly at all. They work planetside as ninjas and stuff." 

"Well, they certainly didn't tell us about _that_ in school," Kalli said. 

"Heh. What _did_ they teach you, anyway?" 

"That all Death Dancers were great pilots and all worked for the Karzan Military." 

Mike laughed heartily again. "Oh, that's a good one. Same ones that said all jump holes were suicide, I suppose, right?" 

"Yeah. Them. Heh." 

"I suppose you've started pretty well figuring out by now just how little they really knew, then," Mike leaned against the railing. A strong breeze came in across the water, making Kalli press up against Mike's body for warmth. 

"So it seems," Kalli said. "The more I keep being reminded how little I really know, the more I want to find out about things." 

"Tell me, Kalli," Mike said, holding her close. "And think about this as long as you like. What are you really afraid of? What really scares you?" 

Kalli thought about it. Most people she had known were afraid of death, or worse, silly things like snakes or heights. She might have once thought she feared death, having never faced it before, but now she had faced it and discovered she wasn't really afraid. Some seemed to be afraid of the unknown, of leaving their homes, of what other people might think of them. She, however, welcomed the unknown with open arms and wide eyes. So what really might make her afraid? 

Finally, she had her answer. "Being trapped. Imprisoned. Or alone and stranded. I suppose really, I'm afraid of feeling helpless." 

A broad smile extended across Mike's face. "You know," he said, "when I asked Jake that same question, years back, he said to me, 'I'm afraid of dying, like any sensible person, you crazy Death Dancer.' But no, not you. When I saw your reaction in that battle back there, to the notion that they were trying to kill you, it wasn't fear, it was defiance. Have you ever even been in a real battle before?" 

Kalli shook her head. "Never." 

"And there you have it. I've always believed that true Death Dancers are born, not trained. While some can manage to overcome their fears through extensive training and desensitizing, there are always some who never had those fears to begin with. And that's what being a Dancer on the Edge of Death is really all about. It isn't about skills or occupation, who you work for or how good a pilot you are. That all comes in time, on its own. No, being a Death Dancer is about an attitude, an outlook on life. It's religion, it's philosophy, and it's a wild ride to which there is no comparison. 

"Most people just don't get it. They don't understand what it might be like because they can't comprehend anyone willingly risking their life for the sheer thrill of it. But when you've seen the face of death and realized it's nothing to be afraid of, but an old friend and a dance partner, there's no turning back or denying it. Once you've danced with death, you keep going back for more, until it finally kills you. The best ones survive the craziest situations against impossible odds, and emerge all the more energized and revitalized for it. 

"Now, don't get me wrong here. Many die in pursuit of another glimpse of death after their first real taste of it. That's why Death Dancers get the reputation of being all great pilots. Anyone who tries the crazy stuff we tend to do who _isn't_ a great pilot, doesn't tend to survive to tell the tale of it. But those who do end up to be among the best pilots in the galaxy, because they know how to not only get into crazy situations, but also to get out of them again. You see what I'm saying here, Kalli?" 

Kalli was staring off over the water quietly. "Yes," she said. "I think I do." 

"So what do you think? You have any questions or anything?" 

"Yeah," she said, leaning against the cold railing herself. "How, exactly, does one become a Death Dancer?" 

"There's no real fixed rules or initiation, or any central leadership," Mike explained. "It's really a self-balancing thing. Anyone who claims to be one who can't take the pressure isn't going to survive very long anyway. Most realize just what it means and don't go in lightly without knowing what they're doing. So really, all you really need to do to become a Dancer on the Edge of Death, is to declare yourself one." 

Kalli stared at the flickering light that had appeared near the horizon again, insatiably curious as to what it really was. She considered to herself. Did she really want to do this? Was she really cut out for it? From what he said, it sounded exactly like what she'd experienced and what her outlook on it was. There was no turning back or denying it. 

"I am a Dancer on the Edge of Death."


	10. Meanwhile, Somewhere Else Entirely...

Talia Richards flew in and landed her Raven-class fighter ship on a landing platform just outside the city of Ottawa on the planet of Toronto. Rain was pouring down outside, so she grabbed an umbrella before leaving the ship, allowing its forcefield to direct the water away from her as she made her way to the building on the other side of the landing area. 

"Well, it certainly took you long enough to get here, Talia," spoke a voice in her mind. 

"I had to take some precautions so as not to appear too conspicuous," she replied in the same manner. "Not to mention how long it took to follow the trail of breadcrumbs you left me." 

She switched off her umbrella as she got inside the building, and spotted the psyker who had spoken to her sitting quietly at a table reading a data pad. His pointed ears marked him as an El'dari. Talia didn't give him more than a cursory glance, however, and simply went over to the counter to order a cup of tea and a news pad. 

"The luminite mining in the Rath system has already begun," Anderos Velarh sent telepathically. 

Talia sat down alone at a table near the window where the rain was streaking down, and began to sip her tea and give a cursory glance over the news pad. "You didn't call me all the way over here to tell me that," she thought. 

"Patience, Talia. What did I always teach you about patience? Now, listen up, because this is important," he sent insistantly. 

"Alright, Alright, I'm listening." 

"I have reason to believe that someone is going to try to hijack the first luminite shipment back to Toronto. They may have found some way to use luminite to build some sort of superweapon to destroy the Empire, and must be stopped." 

"Now, Anderos, I never thought _you_ of all people would be concerned with the welfare of the Empire," Talia thought with amusement. 

"This is serious, Talia. If they manage to build something that could destroy entire cities or even entire worlds, we cannot allow the luminite to fall into their hands. There's a difference between wanting to overthrow the Empire, and wanting the galaxy left as a ruined battlefield in the process. The proper way to destroy a government is to undermine it from within, not attack it from the outside." 

"Right," Talia thought wearily. "So aren't you afraid of the Empire using the luminite to develop their _own_ superweapon or soemthing, then?" 

"Yes," Anderos replied. "And that's why I want you to take that shipment of luminite and make it 'disappear'. I don't care where you take it, just make sure that neither gets their hands on it. Losing the profits from that shipment should be enough to make them give up the mining operation for the time being, as it's costing them a lot to extract that ore." 

"How the hell am I supposed to make a transport full of valuable ore just disappear?" Talia thought. "I may be getting better at my psionic abilities, but that'll be quite some trick." 

"I don't care how you do it. Take it to the fringe worlds. Dump it into a black hole. Send it off into open space. Just make sure the Empire and this new group do not see it for a good long time." 

"Fine," she sighed mentally. "Is there anything else you need to tell me?" 

"No. That will be all. You had best get off Toronto before anyone notices your presense here, however." 

"Understood," Talia thought, finishing up her tea. "I wish we could have met in less formal circumstances." 

"There will be time enough for that later. Goodbye and good luck, Talia." 

"Yeah," Talia stood up and returned her news pad and empty cup to the counter, not even having really looked at the news. "Bye." 

She left the cafe and switched on her umbrella again, and headed back toward her ship. Just as she was reaching her ship, a group of uniformed Military guards approached. "Talia Richards," said one of them. "You are under arrest by order of the Karzan Military." 

Talia tried to remain composed. Had one of their spies somehow caught wind of her conversation with Anderos? She hoped to hell he was alright, but she had to make sure she got out of this alive as well and couldn't stop to worry about him too much. "What? I'm not Talia Richards. I'm not the one you're looking for." 

The man hesitated uncertainly for a moment. The women next to him said, "Don't listen to her. She's using her psychic powers on you!" 

"Leave me _alone_ ," Talia said fiercely, jumping into her ship. The soldiers hesitated for only a moment, swayed by her commanding voice, before opening fire. It was long enough to give her time to get inside, although one of their shots did strike her painfully in the foot. Their hand weapons weren't powerful enough to even put a scratch in her fighter's hull. 

Talia snapped the hatch shut as quickly as she could and flew off into the atmosphere, praying she could make it to the nearest jump hole and wishing that she had a Dancer of Death at her back. She blocked out the pain from her throbbing foot and grabbed the controls. 

"Anderos," she whispered to herself. "Make it out of there alright. Don't die on me yet." 

She made it out of Toronto's atmosphere and was on the way to the jump hole at top speed before the Military fighters came after her. "Talia Richards," a woman said over the comm, "surrender and you will not be harmed." 

Talia switched on the comm. "Don't kill me." 

"Return to the surface immediately," said the woman. 

"Don't shoot at me," Talia said flatly as she pointedly maintained course at full speed to the jump hole. Once again, she became thankful that her Raven was faster than the Military's Barracudas. They even had a few lumbering Sharks back there that stood no chance of keeping up, but she certainly didn't want to get in range of them. 

Talia may have left the ships at Toronto in the dust, but up ahead her long-range sensors picked up a group of fighters on an intercept course. "Damnit," she muttered. She made a slight course adjustment downward to try to evade them, all the while watching to make sure the ships behind her didn't gain on her too much. Her ship's weapons and piloting skills weren't at all up to par with a direct fight, so speed was all she could hope for here. 

The ships ahead of her changed course to compensate for hers, so she did likewise, all the while making sure she was still heading toward the jump hole. She only hoped that if they had the gall to follow her into the jump hole, that they'd get caught in the dead end loop instead of taking the correct path through. 

The Barracudas behind her were closing in with her course adjustments, but now she'd come even with the ones ahead, and knew they couldn't catch her now. She bolted straight toward the jump hole, trying to remember to breathe and not even bothering to slow as she reached the entrance. It was more dangerous that way, but she felt that she knew the hole well enough to get through it at this speed. 

The tunnel opened around her, twisting and turning as she held onto the controls and carefully navigated it. Then she came to the fork, and without a second thought, took what appeared to be the smaller, more dangerous path. After a short corkscrew of color, it widened again into an easier pathway. The other way, she knew, would double back on itself and wind up leaving them lost in a hyperspace maze for some time, if they survived it at all. 

As she emerged from the jump hole into open space, Talia breathed a sigh of relief as she set in a course for planet Manitoba. Once she got there, she would be safe. Keeping a close eye on the sensors as she flew, she noticed nothing come out of the jump hole again. Although Manitoba was officially part of Karzan space, there weren't any major Military installations here. 

She approached planet Manitoba and flew over to a seemingly bare patch of frozen wasteland, and sent a signal down to what appeared to be rock below. Obediently, the rock slid aside, revealing a docking area which she flew down into. Talia was again grateful for the uses of coronite and reminded herself to thank whoever it was that built this base so close to the Karzan capital. For now, she was just glad for a rest.


	11. On the Way to Gaytopia.

Kalli adjusted her shirt in the mirror, taking another glance to admire the Death Dancer symbol on her breast pocket. She took a moment to run a brush through her brown hair before going downstairs to meet the guys for breakfast. 

Jake and Mike were sitting at the table by the window where they'd eaten dinner the night before. Jake glanced up at her as she approached and let out an audible groan. "Oh no, now there's _two_ of you!" 

Mike laughed heartily. "Ah, you know you love us. What would you do without us?" 

Kalli snickered and sat down next to Mike. "Fish for breakfast?" 

"What else?" Jake said. "Now, if you two suicidal nutcases don't mind, I'd like to reach Hamilton in one piece, thank you very much." 

"Naturally," Mike said. A naked mermaid hopped out of the water and delivered their morning fish and seaweed meal. Mike casually ogled her briefly. 

"Thank you." Jake picked up his fork and started eating as the mermaid returned to the water. "Now," he slapped a data pad with a map on the table, pointing at it emphatically to punctuate his words. "I suggest we go through Gaytopia instead of Lesbia. It'll take a bit longer, but it should be considerably safer, seeing as there are fewer gay Military pilots than there are ones who want to try to ogle the Lesbians, and it's less of a major crossroads." 

"That's no fun," Mike said. 

"Bah. Ogle Kalli some more or something. We're going to Gaytopia." 

"Fine, fine." 

Kalli peered over to take a look at the map herself. Once they got through Gaytopia, they'd still have to cross New Scotland before reaching Hamilton. "What's in New Scotland, then?" she asked. 

"Goats and Sheep, mainly," Jake said. "They're pretty militant, though. We won't be able to land there, and there's a fairly heavy Military presense in the system, particularly around the jump gates. We'll have to go through the Glasgow Nebula to get to the jump hole to Hamilton. It's not really patrolled very well, due to pockets of volatile gasses making traversing it a dangerous prospect. Which I'm sure you two will enjoy." He rolled his eyes. 

"We'll be just fine," Mike said lightly. "Maybe Talia will decide to turn up eventually, too." 

Kalli looked up from the table and peered out the window across the water to where she'd seen the light the night before. She couldn't really see anything today, though. Maybe it was too far away. She'd have to look when they took off and got a better vantage point. 

They finished eating and headed out to the landing platform again. The sun was shining and seabirds were flying above the rippling sea. When they climbed into their ships and took off, Kalli immediately flew off over the water toward where that light had been. 

"Where are you going, Kalli?" Mike asked. 

"I want to see where that light was coming from." 

As she neared the opposite shore, she saw a sizable complex with a tower. She suspected that whatever had made the light had been from the top of the tower, as the rest wouldn't be visible over the horizon anyway. But it had to have been pretty bright. Then as she flew over the complex, she spotted what appeared to be a large fighter-class ship under construction in the courtyard. Kalli quickly hit a button to do a scan of it before veering off toward space. 

They waited until they were well away from Darwin and heading toward the jump hole before asking what she saw, since she didn't volunteer anything immediately. "So what was it?" Jake asked. 

"I'm not sure," Kalli said. "But I did see something interesting there. There was a ship under construction. The computer can't identify what type it is, but it's totally unlike anything in its database." 

"Send it over here," Mike said. "I'll see if I can make sense of it." Kalli transmitted the data her scan had picked up to him. "Hmm. Now that's interesting. According to a quick simulation, this thing shouldn't even be able to fly." 

"Well," Jake said, "Maybe it's some kid's science project and they're flunking?" 

"Doesn't look it," Mike explained. "It's design incorporates far more advanced concepts than any student of that level would know about. Not without also knowing that it's far too massive to even get off the ground with current propulsion technology." 

Kalli mused over that for a moment. "That would imply that they're either idiots, or they know something we don't." 

"Either a better engine, or lighter materials than we normally use in constructing spaceships," Mike went on. "And any lighter and the hull wouldn't be able to take a hit without being ripped apart. Besides the fact that the structure in there in the first place is made of much heavier and stronger materials than are normally used..." 

Jake commented. "Now Mike, I didn't know you were a spaceship design expert." 

"I'm not," Mike said. "I've just been in this business long enough to know what works and what doesn't. Hmm. Another simulation indicates it would require approximately nine times the power output of our engines to get off the ground at all. And it's not large enough to carry an engine of the size that would be required. I suppose they could haul it into space using external engines, but it would still need the additional energy to overcome its increased inertia to properly accelerate at any speed viable for real space travel." 

"Okay, now you're scaring me, Mike. You're starting to sound like my professor." 

"I'm just doing it to annoy you, Jake," Mike said lightly. "I don't really know what I'm talking about anyway. Honest." 

"Yeah, whatever you say." 

They managed to reach the jump hole to Gaytopia without further interference from the Military. Apparently traffic off the usual trade routes wasn't closely monitored in the Darwin system. Although this jump hole was also quite a tricky ride, they emerged safely in the Gaytopia system. 

"Here we are," said Jake. "Gaytopia. Can't you just smell the hot man-love?" 

"Right," Mike said. "And I suppose you're going to want to land and take a break, too." 

"Oh, boink Kalli or something. I've almost gotten killed like twenty times in the last week. I need a breather." 

"Uh-huh. Alright, alright. Let's land. But I'm staying on my ship, thanks."


	12. Arrival in Hamilton.

After a relaxing night on Gaytopia, they departed the planet and headed for the jump hole. They weren't stopped by the Military and were able to proceed without any further delays. And although this jump hole seemed to turn around on itself, it deposited them firmly at their destination without incident. 

"Alright," Jake said. "We're in New Scotland now. The Glasgow Nebula is that greenish cloud off that way. Let's go. Once we're inside, the Military shouldn't bother us." 

Shortly, they entered the cloud. Kalli's sensors warned her about the volatile gasses, but the jump hole was clearly marked on the map thanks to the data Jake had uploaded to her earlier. 

"Break formation and try to avoid the gas pockets," Mike said as he did so, starting to weave his way through the nebula. 

Kalli flew off through the greenish nebula, using her sensors to detect and avoid the dangerous gas pockets, heading toward the jump hole. It was something of a thrill, but she didn't find it nearly as difficult as flying through the Cryces Asteroid Field. After many long minutes, the three of them reached the jump hole to Hamilton finally. 

"You two nutcases ready? Guess so. Here we go." Jake flew on into the anomaly. 

After passing through the twisting tunnel of the jump hole, they emerged in what could only be described as a debris field. Bits of ships littered the area, pipes and warped hull panels, engine components leaking small amounts of radiation which Kalli's sensors were so kind to warn her about... 

"Ah, Hamilton," Mike said. "Home again." 

"What is all this?" Kalli asked. 

"Oh, this? The remnants of many battles. Probably drawn in by the gravity of the jump hole." 

"There's been that many ships destroyed around here?" Kalli wondered in amazement. 

"Yep. On both sides," Mike said ruefully. "Although I'd like to think that the Military has had more losses. Let's head for the planet." 

They flew on past the debris field and out into open space. As they flew, Kalli picked up a trio of Barracudas on long range sensors. To her surprise, however, the ships avoided them entirely. 

Mike had to chuckle softly at that. "They've wisened up around here. They know one Death Dancer is worth five of them. Though when they do try to attack us, it'll be in a larger group. We'd best keep our eyes out and be ready for a fight." 

They descended toward the surface of Hamilton. Mike led them around to a jungle region near the equator, where they set down for a landing after finding a suitable clearing. They climbed out of their ships. 

"Ahhh," Mike said, breathing deep. "Smell that fresh air!" 

Jake smirked. "So where's your friends, Mike?" 

"I don't know. They should be somewhere around here. This part of the planet should still be firmly controlled by the guerillas, after all, but they move around a lot. I'll try the comm." 

After sending out a brief signal, Mike took a seat on a fallen log and waited. Jake, likewise, sat down leaning against a nearby tree at the edge of the clearing. Jake said, "Ah, this isn't such a bad planet, really. It's got breathable air and wildlife that doesn't try to kill me, after all." As if on cue, a snake appeared hanging from a branch near Jake's head. Kalli calmly went over and picked it up, carefully holding it near its head. Jake said, "Kalli, what are you-- eeek!" 

Kalli was glad she had a firm hold on the snake as Jake panicked and practically jumped into the trees. "What are you so scared of?" 

"Mike, is that thing poisonous?" Jake stammered. 

Mike took a good look at the green snake and said with a cheerful smile, "Yep, I believe that would be a Hamilton wood snake. Very deadly." 

"He's kind of cute," Kalli said, trying to soothe the snake. 

Jake said firmly, "I don't know if you're serious or joking, but either way it's not funny. Bloody Death Dancers." 

Mike laughed heartily. A group of fellows in camouflage emerged from the jungle. "I could hear you guys a mile off," said one of them. "Is everything okay over here?" 

"Just peachy," Mike said. "Ron! It's been ages. How's it going?" 

"Shit, Mike, is that you?" Ron said. "I almost didn't recognize you, what with you having shaved within the last month." 

Mike smiled. "We've brought you in some weapons and food rations. Thought you could use the supplies." 

"Great! We sure could use them. Could also use some good pilots, too, as always. Planning to hang around a bit?" 

"Don't know how long we'll be staying," Mike said. "Seems we've got the Military after our heads at the moment for some reason. Can't imagine why." 

"Heh. You always find some way to get in trouble," Ron said. "Stay a while. We're on the verge of forcing them off the planet entirely." 

"I wonder if they like snakes," Kalli commented, still calmly holding the little green snake. 

"That could be amusing," said Ron. "So Mike, care to introduce me to your new friend?" 

"This is Kalli May," Mike said. "Kalli, meet Ronald Lambert, an old friend of mine. We go way back." 

"And she's a Death Dancer too," Ron observed. "Excellent." 

Kalli knew what was expected of her, and wondered if she could live up to their expectations. She didn't want to let anyone down who was relying on her. But then she thought, if she died, she died. The guerillas couldn't be any better or worse off then, than if she hadn't been here at all. She wasn't afraid to dance on the edge of death. 

"I would be glad to do what I can to help," Kalli said. 

"Happy to have you," Ron said with a smile. "But er, forgive me for not shaking your hand while you are holding a venomous snake." 

There was a sound of a thump as Jake fainted.


	13. Planning and Preparations. The mission is laid out.

"I didn't know you were so scared of snakes, Jake," Mike said cheerfully. 

Jake muttered something probably obscene with regards to Death Dancers and nibbled on his space ration. "I want to get off this stupid planet as soon as possible." 

"What, without us?" 

"I hate you." 

Kalli leaned against her ship, munching on her own ration. "It seems a nice place to me." 

"They need some sort of base," Jake said. "Some space station, underground complex, hangar, _something_ to stay out of this stupid jungle. How do they manage around here?" 

"You said the same thing last time we were here," Mike pointed out. 

Ron turned up again. "Hey, Mike," he said. "There's some lady in orbit asking for you." 

Mike raised an eyebrow. "She say what her name was?" 

Ron nods. "Yeah. Says her name is Talia Richards. You know her?" 

"Talia!" Mike almost fell off the nose of his ship where he was seated. "Yes, get her down here ASAP!" 

"Righto," Ron said, pulling out his comm and sending off a signal. 

Shortly thereafter, a light Raven-class fighter set down on the other side of the clearing, and a slightly haggard-looking woman climbed out. "Thank goodness I found you guys," she said, coming over toward them. 

"How'd you know to find us here?" Jake asked. "And where by the Father's balls did you run off to, anyway?" 

"Just a hunch," Talia said. "And it was closer and considerably safer to get to than Lorres, what with the Military after me now." 

"They're after you too?" Mike asked. "What did you do?" 

"I don't honestly know. Somehow they must have caught wind of... damn," Talia sighed. "This is important. We need to talk. Inside." She headed over to Jake's freighter. Mike shrugged and went over to join her, gesturing Kalli to join them. Jake entered last and closed the door behind them. They took seats around the table. Talia raised an eyebrow at Kalli. "Who is this, anyway?" 

"Right, you haven't been properly introduced," Jake said. "Talia, this is Kalli May. The escort I had to pick up after you left me stranded on Secundus. Kalli, Talia Richards." 

"Sorry about that," Talia said. "I received an urgent message that led me to a meeting on Toronto." She looked uneasily at Kalli again. 

"Don't worry. You can trust her," Jake said. "I think." 

Kalli smirked. "Not my fault you're afraid of snakes." 

"Very well," Talia said, going on. "The agent I met with on Toronto informed me that someone was going to try to steal a shipment of luminite bound from the Rath system. Something about having found a way to use luminite as a new power source." 

"A power source?" Mike said. "Now that's interesting." 

Talia nodded. "He said that I was to make this shipment 'disappear' so to speak, and keep it out of the hands of both this new group and the Empire. However, before I could get to my ship, the Military tried to arrest me. I barely made it out of the system alive." 

Mike pressed a few buttons, bringing up a diagram on the screen of the ship Kalli had scanned on Darwin. "Kalli got a scan of this ship on Darwin," Mike said. "It puzzled me, because it didn't seem like it could fly. Not without a much greater power source than we have available." 

"The luminite?" Talia asked. "You don't suppose it's a prototype for some new class of luminite-powered ships, do you?" 

"I don't see what else it could be, given this new information." 

"We'll have to steal the prototype, too," Kalli murmured pensively. 

Talia glanced at her, and couldn't find any argument, so she just nodded. "You think you can handle that, Kalli?" 

"I'll do it," she said without hesitation. 

"Alright," Talia said. She turned to the screen and brought up a map. "The rest of us will need to capture the transport before it reaches Darwin, then. I doubt hiding it in the Cryces would be a good idea, something that size could never navigate the asteroid field. So we'll have to take it somewhere else." 

Jake said, "Transylvania, perhaps. They'd never find it in the Dracula Cloud." 

"Now we just have to get back over to that part of space, eh?" said Mike. 

"Yeah, great," Jake commented. "The sooner I get off this snake nest, the better. But now how are we going to get there without getting stopped by the military?" 

"Haul a cargo load of sex toys from Gaytopia," Talia suggested wryly. "They'll never stop to ask." 

Jake opened his mouth as if to debunk that plan, then ended up laughing. "You know, that just might work." 

"You know," Mike said. "Why, precisely, do we not just make our own super luminite-powered ships? If we can get a good look at that prototype, we should be able to duplicate it, after all." 

"I don't really know why he wanted me to dispose of the luminite instead of use it," Talia said. "But it really seems more logical to me. He just wanted me to keep it out of the hands of the Empire and the ones trying to steal it, not care what I did with it..." She sighed softly. "I just hope he's alright," she murmured. 

"Alright," Mike said. "We have a mission. It's dangerous and we may well all be killed horribly. When do we leave?" 

"I think a good night's sleep will be in order first," Talia said, stifling a yawn. "It's a long flight from Manitoba." 

"First thing in the morning, then," Jake said. "Alright, head out, I wanna get some sleep here, myself. And keep your bloody snakes out of here. Crazy Death Dancers." 

Chuckling, Mike left the freighter, followed shortly by the others. Talia grimly went over to her fighter to sleep. Watching her, Mike commented to Kalli, "I wonder what's bothering her. I've never seen her this sullen and determined before. All business. It's not like her." 

"I wouldn't really know," Kalli said. "Suppose I'd best get some sleep myself if I'm going to expect to hijack a highly advanced prototype fighter ship from a top secret high security compound." 

"Heh. You really think you can handle that?" 

"I know very well I could fail. But I'm willing to do it anyway." 

Mike gave a small smile and hugged her. "Good. Sleep well." 

"You too."


	14. Getting From Here To There.

"Pity you folks are leaving already," Ron said. "But thanks again for the supplies." 

"We may be back sometime," Mike said. "And if all goes well, we may have a pleasant surprise for you. Good luck, Ron." 

"You too. Good flying." 

With that, the four of them climbed into their ships and set off away from planet Hamilton. They hadn't gotten far before a squadron of Barracudas began heading toward them. Jake was immediately on the comm asking for backup before they even got in range. 

"Eight Barracudas approaching from the east side of the planet," Mike said over the comm. "Can't outrun them, Jake's tub is too slow. We'll have to fight." 

Their backup arrived shortly before the enemy did as several small guerilla fighters joined them in orbit. She immediately recognized them as flying Griffons. Kalli broke formation and buzzed in toward the Military ships, maneuvering to avoid hit by too many of their energy blasts. Firing her weapons at them, she flew around the larger ships, making herself a nuisance and a distraction as Mike's violet energy bursts ripped into their shields. 

One of the Barracudas' shields fell. Kalli moved in and focused on taking out his weapons. To her right, there was an explosion as one of the guerilla ships blew up. Kalli pressed her advantage fiercely and penetrated the hull of the ship she was fighting. Within moments, it too was torn apart. Bits of debris pelleted her shields. 

"Die, Military bastards!" growled one of the guerillas over the comm. 

Purple streaked across her screen. There was another explosion, but she didn't look to see whether it was a Military ship or a guerilla that had been destroyed. Kalli focused on circling another Barracuda, firing intently at it. She was being shot at, but her shields held, and most of them managed to miss. With the assistance of the guerillas' Griffons, her target's shields flickered out of existence. Several seconds of steady firing later, that one turned into a short-lived ball of flame as well. 

"Bloody Death Dancers," snarled one of the Military pilots. "Break off! They're too tough." 

The Barracudas began to retreat, turning and flying back the direction they came from, but continued to take heavy fire from Mike and the guerillas. Another was destroyed in a flash of purple light before they could even get very far. 

"Bear on them," said a guerilla. "Don't let them escape." 

One of the guerillas was fairly badly damaged and flew down to land on the surface. Kalli bore down on the escaping Military ships, aiming for their engines. The Barracudas were slower and could not really hope to escape this way. _They must be hoping for backup_ , she thought. Her shots struck true. The shields fell, and the ship was torn apart. To her left, she saw another explosion, followed by another shortly after that. 

"That's all of them," said one of the guerillas. "Now get out of here before more show up. Good luck." 

"Thanks for the assist, guys," Mike said as they turned and headed for the debris field. 

"No, thank _you_. It's always worth it to blow some Military bastards. Farewell." 

They made it to the debris field without further incident. "Next stop," Jake said, "Gaytopia." 

"Naturally," Mike said dryly. 

They entered the jump hole, navigated the volatile gas clouds of New Scotland, and arrived in Gaytopia again. There they ate, rested up, and probably stayed for some other diversions as well of different sorts. 

"Do you really think this idea will work?" Jake asked as they loaded the cargo onto his freighter on planet Gaytopia. 

"Possibly," Talia said. 

"Fine, fine," Jake said. "Alright, from here we go to Darwin and drop Kalli off. I sure hope you can pull this off, babe. From there, we'll head on to the fringe worlds." 

"Kalli," Mike said. "If you succeed, I want you to meet us at Dracula Base in the Transylvania system. It should be on your map there." 

Kalli nodded. "Alright." 

"We all set?" Talia asked. 

"That's the last crate," Jake answered. "Let's go, then." 

They departed from Gaytopia and made their way to the jump hole to the Darwin system. Kalli again wondered if she really could pull this off. No, _how_ she could pull this off. She had to get in there somehow, but the thing had to be finished and ready to fly before she could really hope to make off with it. That might require hanging around a bit and avoiding being detected somehow. She thought she knew just the plan. Maybe. If she somehow got in as one of the guards or something at the facility, perhaps. That just might work. Maybe. 

They landed on planet Darwin again, this time at the Glyphan facility. "Do please give us time to be off the planet before trying anything, Kalli," Talia said. "Just in case?" 

Kalli said. "I did a high-altitude scan of the facility on the way in. It's still ways from completion. I'll need to wait for it to be complete before I can make off with it, so no worries there." 

"Okay," Talia said. "The rest of us will need to get to the Rath system and see how close this transport is to being sent off. We'll be leaving first thing in the morning." 

After a delicious dinner, Mike came up to Kalli's room. "Hey," he said. She looked up from her data pad and gave him a faint smile. "Hard at work already?" 

"Analyzing my scans of the complex," Kalli said. 

Mike sat down and rested his chin on his hands. "You've never done anything like this before." 

"Nope. Never let that stop me before, heh." Kalli peered at the data. "I'd wondered why they were building it outside like that. But they don't have anyplace large enough to have held it at this facility." 

Mike leaned over and spontaneously kissed her on the lips. Kalli was startled and blinked. "No?" he asked. 

Kalli smiled softly. "Yes." 

They didn't really get much sleep that night.


	15. Killer Bunnies from Outer Space.

Talia woke the next morning and forced herself through breakfast, putting on a mask of calm. She couldn't stop thinking about Anderos, but she had to think that if he were dead she'd have known it, perhaps. Worse, though, he could have been captured, and was being imprisoned, interrogated, maybe even tortured. 

But there wasn't anything she could do about it now but get on with this mission. Maybe with the prototype fighter, they'd have the firepower to try to find out where he was and rescue him. If he were even still alive. 

She met up with Jake and Mike, bid a farewell to Kalli, and set off away from planet Darwin, heading toward the jump hole to the Sydney system. "How safe is the jump hole from Syndey to Rath?" she asked over the comm. "I don't want to get there and have to navigate through some sort of twisted maze to get where we're going." 

"Should be fine," Jake said. "That is, people other than Death Dancers use it from time to time, which is generally a fair indication that it's pretty safe." 

"Should we stop in at Wellington Base to rest first or go straight there? I expect it'll be a long flight and don't really want to do this while exhausted." 

"Yeah," Jake said. "May want to see about enlisting some help too if possible." 

"Are you sure that's wise?" 

"What, do _you_ want to try to get this transport on your own? I certainly don't." 

"I could probably handle it," Mike said lightly. 

"Let's stop at base to rest up and get backup," Jake said. "Since there isn't any pirate base in the Rath system, it'll have to be Sydney." 

They passed through the Sydney jump hole and travelled to Wellington Base. "No attacks thus far, eh?" Mike commented. "Shaping out to be a right dull trip." 

"I'm sure we'll get _more_ than enough fighting for you, Mike," Jake said wryly. 

Talia glanced down at her scanner readout. There was a group of ships it had just picked up on long range sensors, on the edge of the Wellington Asteroid Field. As they came closer, more information was identified. Class: Jackrabbit. Affiliation: Death Dancers. 

"Killer bunnies," Talia commented. "I just hope they're on our side." 

"Ho, Death Dancers!" Mike cheered. "Nah, don't worry, Talia, I'm sure they won't shoot at us." 

They came into range of the squadron of Jackrabbits, and Mike hailed them. "We're patrolling the asteroid field for Military activity," their leader replied. "They've become bolder lately and are starting to send excursions into the field itself." 

"Well," Mike said. "You folks interested in a break from a standard patrol to do a suicide mission?" 

"That sounds fun. Talk more on base, we're heading back there now." 

They landed on Wellington Base and met with the Death Dancers. A quick mental scan revealed them to be a fierce group of Rabbits from planet Sydney who had grown increasingly dissatisfied with the way the Empire was handling things. 

"It's nice to meet someone on our side for once," Talia said pointedly to get Mike and Jake know they could be trusted. 

"A growing trend these days," said their leader, a tall gray Rabbit wearing a jacket emblazoned with the Death Dancers insignia. "I don't think the Empire quite realizes just how few Dancers of Death are actually working for them at all anymore. Anyway. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Warren Wright, of the Dancers on the Edge of Death." 

They introduced themselves to the Rabbit and went to discuss plans over space rations. "We need to get to the Rath system and capture the transport of luminite before it reaches Darwin," Talia explained. "We don't want the Empire to get a hold of it either." 

"This will no doubt be quite dangerous," Warren said. "A welcome change from standard patrols. We will join you." 

"We'll be happy to have you along," Talia said. "First thing in the morning, we will be taking the jump hole to the Rath system and from there to the Glittergold Asteroid Field." 

"What will be done with the transport once it is captured?" Warren asked. 

"We hope to take it to Dracula Base in the Transylvania system. Hopefully we'll be joined shortly by one of our agents who will be attempting to capture the prototype fighter designed to use luminite as a power source. With any luck, we should be able to copy the design and thereby build our own luminite-powered ships. From there, we will be in an excellent position to combat the Empire." 

"That should prove intriguing," Warren said. "I should like to assist with the testing of these prototypes, if you will." 

Talia nodded. Mike said, "I want to test the dangerous fighters too! Pity Kalli got the fun job." 

"Excuse me, friends, but I require rest," Warren said. He bowed slightly to them and left the room. Jake stood up and meandered out of the room, following his fluffy tail, leaving Mike and Talia to stare after him oddly. 

"I don't think I entirely want to know what Jake plans to do with that Rabbit," Talia muttered. 

Mike cleared his throat and leaned over to Talia and murmured, "Are you completely sure we can trust them?" 

Talia nodded. "Yes. I'm sure. Weren't you the one saying you were sure they wouldn't shoot at us?" She smirked. 

"Hey, it was just a hunch," Mike said with a smile. "Death Dancers don't _usually_ fight one another, after all, without good reason. Though it's been known to happen from time to time. That's one reason why the Empire has been so wary of sending Death Dancers into Hamilton, after all, even with the Military doing such a poor job of taking over the system. They've gotten the hint that it might be a bad idea to push it and that they might just lose what little Death Dancer support they still have." 

"How many do you suppose are still working for the Empire?" 

"Quite a lot less than there were even just a few years ago," Mike said. "And many of those that do, are mainly doing it for the money anyway. But one day the Dancers on the Edge of Death will declare their independence from the Empire as a whole, and ninety-nine percent of them will follow." 

"Anyway," Talia said, "Let's get some rest. We've got a long day ahead of us." 

Talia went and climbed into her Raven-class fighter and curled up to sleep. _Please be alive, Anderos_ , she thought to herself. _We'll be on our way to help soon. Soon, I hope. We'll be coming soon._ Slowly, she drifted off into a heavy, weary sleep.


	16. The Nova X-1 Heavy Fighter.

Kalli downloaded her ship's database into a portable module, making sure her maps and scans were intact and properly encrypted, before wiping the database. She had carefully been performing high-altitude surveillance of the progress of the prototype, and determined that it should be ready to fly now. She slipped the module into her pack along with some rations and other supplies and equipment that she thought she might need. Then, she slung the pack over her back, and strapped a pair of light arms to her belt, before climbing out of the fighter. 

"Kalli!" called a voice from towards the compound. It was Tom. 

"Hey, Tom," she said. "Think you can manage selling this ship for me?" 

"Kalli, I want to go with you," said the Kangaroo. 

"What? Tom, this is going to be dangerous. You could get killed." 

"Yes," Tom said. "But imagine! It will make a marvelous novel." 

"I thought you guys used drugs for inspiration, not insane stunts to get yourself killed," Kalli said with a smirk. "But hell, it's your hide. Come if you want, just don't screw up the mission doing it." 

"I will be a great commando! I will play your faithful sidekick, and keep a lookout for guards, and stuff!" 

Kalli rolled her eyes and put her face to her palm. "Just... grab a gun and let's go, then." 

"We can use my ground speeder to get there," Tom said. 

"And if you survive you can leave the same way," Kalli said dryly. "Hey, you there!" she called to a random Kangaroo. "Can you sell this here ship for me?" The Kangaroo nodded. "Let's go," she said to Tom. 

Tom led the way to the shed where his speeder was being kept. Kalli punched in the coordinates of the complex into the navigator. Tom said, "Okay. Hop on. And hold on tightly." 

They sped off on Tom's speeder into the woods of Darwin at high speeds, and Kalli held on tightly as Tom veered wildly back and forth to avoid running into a tree. Kalli said calmly, "You know, if I weren't a Death Dancer, I'd insist that I drive." 

Fortunately, they managed to reach the complex without running into a tree and having the speeder explode horribly in a ball of fire leaving them stranded in the middle of nowhere. They stopped the speeder at the edge of the woods near the compound and got off. Kalli pulled out a pair of binoculars from her pack and peered through them at the facility. 

She found that the two guys who were probably supposed to be guarding the gate were instead lounging about on the nearby beach. "Well, damn. That might make getting in there easier. Let's go." 

With growing confidence, Kalli darted across open ground and reached the gates without incident, Tom hopping along beside her. She peered about both ways along the hall looking for guards, weapons in hand, but the place was deserted. "To the courtyard," she said, heading off down a hallway. 

As they raced through the hallways toward the courtyard, they discovered the rest of the place seemed relatively empty as well. She only ended up shooting one guard on the way in, who hadn't even seen them coming. "Where is everyone?" she breathed. But as they reached it, they found it was because it seemed like everyone was there instead. 

"I announce to you, my grand design," intoned a tall human near the ship. "The Nova X-1 heavy fighter. With this, we shall conquer the galaxy!" 

"Excellent work, Mr. Penner, excellent work," said a Koala. "Now, the moment of truth. We shall see how it flies." 

Kalli did a quick count. There were about a dozen human guards standing around, and a handful of Koalas. They hadn't spotted her yet, at least. Their eyes were fixed on the Nova prototype. 

Tom, however, apparently didn't know the least bit about discretion. He immediately began shooting at the guards, particularly the Koalas. Kalli swore under her breath and started shooting back as the guards stirred into a state of panic. She could hardly tell who was shooting who with all the weapons fire around. 

"What is going on here?" demanded the Koala who seemed to be their leader. 

Kalli managed to make it to the fighter, using its hull as cover. "Lord Blake!" said one of the guards. "We have captured the Kangaroo!" 

Kalli peered out from around the fighter. They were holding Tom with weapons pointed at him. The short Koala who was addressed as Lord Blake was handed a weapon, and pointed it at him. "You filthy Kangaroo. Woman! Surrender at once, or your Kangaroo friend gets it!" 

She pulled open the hatch to the Nova. Stupid Tom should have never come along. He was a liability. "Why should I care what happens to him?" She fired a few shots into the knot of guards in hopes that if he were smart, he could escape. But she wasn't about to surrender for his sake. She jumped into the Nova and slammed the hatch shut, locking it in place. 

The controls looked fairly standard, if a bit more optimized than what she was used to. Now was the time to hope this thing didn't blow up as she was trying to fly off with it. The guards began shooting at the ship, but the hull didn't even seem to care. She flipped on the engine control, and heard a hum as the engines began powering up. 

Kalli peered out the cockpit window to see if Tom was still alive. Maybe she could grab him before she took off. Was it a risk she could afford to take? "Are you watching?" said Blake's voice over the comm. He was standing outside with a hand-comm and a weapon pointed at the Kangaroo. "Then watch your friend die." She saw a flash of light, and the sound of a blaster firing came over the comm. Tom fell limp against the ground. 

Kalli snarled and went over to the comm. "You'll pay for that," she said fiercely. She took the controls and eased the ship into the air. Pointing the weapons downward, she started firing at the complex. It was difficult to tell how much she hit, but she imagined several guards must have been killed, along with inflicting considerable structural damage. 

"And you will pay for this," said Blake's voice. "Do you think that we can't just make another ship? That we can't make a whole fleet of them? Oh yes, you will see then. You will see! And you will wish you gave in when you had the chance." 

Kalli ignored his threats and flew the Nova out of the atmosphere of planet Darwin. No more distractions. She regretted letting Tom come along, but that was his own stupid idea. It was his own fault that he was dead. Wasn't it? She couldn't have done anything about it without compromising her mission. She couldn't have done anything. 

She had barely left the atmosphere and was heading toward the jump hole when a group of Military ships approached her. "Unknown ship, please submit your designation. Is that vessel properly registered?" 

Kalli sighed. She didn't have the patience for this right now. Flipping on the comm, she said, "If you know what's good for you, you'll leave me alone." 

"Return to the surface immediately!" 

Checking the internal diagnostics, she determined that the shields and weapons systems were, in fact, fully operational. The patrol ships were powering weapons, but since her weapons were already powered up from shooting at the complex, she simply began shooting back. She was surprised when the Nova's weapons shot off bursts that punched through their shields like nothing. Certainly, she'd attacked the complex, but she hadn't gotten a good look at what sort of destruction she'd caused, particularly since she had entirely failed to hit Lord Blake like she had wanted to. 

"What the buttsex? Ahhhh!" One of the Barracuda pilots was screaming over the comm as his ship was torn apart by the Nova. 

"Retreat! Retreat! It's too strong!" cried the other one. That one was also quickly silenced by a couple bright bursts of energy. 

"Nice ship," Kalli said to herself as she turned in the general direction of the jump hole, heading off that way at full speed. Without any further distractions, she had a chance to pull out the data module from her pack and upload its contents into the ship's computer. With the extact coordinates of the jump hole available, she made a minor course correction and settled in for taking a look at what this ship could do. "Bloody Tom," she whispered. "Why did he have to come along? Why did he have to die?" 

With another sigh, she forced it out of her head and took a look around the ship. It was larger than Mike's Sabre, but moved almost as gracefully as her Griffon. And the weapons were amazing. They hadn't gone to any half measures on this. She did come acrosst he occasional glitch as a system didn't work exactly as she expected, but overall, it was beautiful. It was perfect. Every pilot's dream. And it was all hers.


	17. Let's Hijack That Transport Already Damnit.

"Here we are," Talia said. "The Rath system. Remember, we want to capture the transport, not destroy it." 

She was in formation with the seven Jackrabbits, Mike, and Jake in the back. He had emptied his freighter at Wellington and intended to try to hang back out of the battle and try to tractor in salvage from the ships and facilities they were bound to destroy. 

As they approached the Glittergold Asteroid Field, however, they discovered that there was no trace of the transport. Talia frowned slightly. Were they too late? She opened the comm and said, "Glittergold Mining Station, we are here to escort the transport to Karzan space. What is your status?" 

After a few moments, there came a reply. "Well, shit, you could have arrived here a bit sooner. Some pirates came out of nowhere and took it. I don't nkow where they went, but I'm transmitting their last known trajectory." 

"Data received," Talia said. "How long ago was this?" 

"Just shy of two hours ago. I hope you can catch the buggers! Good luck." 

"Thank you. Let's go, boys." She turned her ship and flew off at top speed in that direction. "Jake, your freighter probably is too slow to keep up at these speeds. Meet us back at base." 

"Bah. Alright. Good luck to you folks." Jake's ship broke formation and headed off toward the jump hole to Transylvania. 

"Meh. You'll get there faster if you go on past me," said Mike. "I'll catch up. Just make sure you get there." 

"Fine," Talia said. "Here's to hoping. Looks like they're heading for the Tau jump gate. Why would they be going there, if they're based on Darwin? This makes no sense." 

"Perhaps they have nothing to do with that group on Darwin after all," Warren suggested. 

"Or they're planning to build their fleet out here," Talia hypothesized. "They wouldn't really be able to hide a fleet on a major planet like Darwin that easily." 

"This is also true," Warren said. 

They reached the Tau jump gate without picking up any sign of them. "Damn, they must have gone through already." She sent a message off to Mike behind them. "We're at the Tau jump gate. Come through when you get here. Suspect they're heading to planet Harris or further into the fringe." 

Their small fleet entered into the jump gate in formation and went through the tunnel to the Tau system. "There it is!" said Warren. 

Talia spotted the convoy on long-range sensors, heading straight for planet Harris. "Close in. We're faster than them." A motley group of fighters buzzed around the transport. Ravens, Griffons, Barracudas, even a Shark. Talia counted twelve of them in all. "Remember, we must capture the transport intact. Focus fire on the fighters!" 

As they closed in on the transport, Mike's ship emerged from the jump gate behind them. The fighters were breaking off from their formation to attack them. "Engage the enemy!" said one of them over the comm. 

Talia ignored the fighters, flying on past them as the killer bunnies kept them occupied. She wove past them and headed straight for the now defenseless transport. As she closed in, the transport began firing its turrets at her, but she evaded them easily. A quick scan of the transport revealed it to be the one she wanted. A fortune worth of luminite was on board. "Surrender at once," she demanded. 

"You won't stop me," said the man on the transport. Another quick scan for lifesigns revealed that he was alone. 

Talia flew in and matched course and speed with the transport and locked on docking clamps. Weapon in hand, she slid down through the airlock into the ship. Down a short hallway, she reached the bridge. "Surrender. Or die," Talia said to the man. 

"Buttsex you," he said. He reached for a weapon, but she was too fast. His body slumped to the floor along with its former pilot. 

Talia took the controls and slowed the transport, turning it back toward the gate. According to sensors, Mike had engaged the enemy as well, and her side was winning. Most of the enemy ships had been destroyed. The Jackrabbits had taken some damage, but had taken no losses. As she flew back into range, the Death Dancers mopped up the remainder. 

"It's all here," she said over the comm. "Good work, boys. Let's go." 

"Great," Mike said. "Thanks for leaving me something to shoot at." 

"Damage report?" Talia asked. 

"Some minor hull damage," Warren said. "A couple weapons disabled. Nothing serious." 

They flew on back toward the jump gate, the Death Dancers covering the transport as Talia piloted it. It was a slow and lumbering mass of metal and cargo, but there wasn't any other way to get that much ore anywhere anytime soon. They could move smaller amounts of it in a freighter later if they had to, but for now, she just wanted to get it somewhere safe. 

Talia sighed and stripped the corpses of any valuables and weapons, and dumped them out an airlock. She pocketed the credits and rubbed her head wearily. She didn't really like killing, even when it was necessary, as it gave her a terrible headache afterward. There were downsides to being a psyker. 

"Jake's gonna be disappointed about missing the action," Mike said. "Particularly since it was so easy." 

"Why does he insist on taking a freighter into combat, anyway?" Talia asked. 

"Damned if I know. Silly Primos. Or former Primos at any rate." 

Talia grunted. "Yeah, something like that. Suppose he's too gay to be a Primo and too cowardly to be a Dancer of Death." 

"There is no real shame in such thing," Warren said. "It is, after all, forbidden for Rabbits to practice the Primo religion. Yet neither are most of us Dancers on the Edge of Death. There are many things one might worship but Life and Death, but perhaps few so important or polarizing." 

The convoy reached the jump gate and headed through. Once on the other side, Talia said, "We should probably take the jump gate to Transylvania. Navigating a jump hole in this boat would be a pain in the ass." 

"Sure thing, Talia," Mike said. "Course laid in." They headed off toward the jump gate. 

Talia sighed, rubbing her throbbing head some more and trying to block out the pain. She wasn't really sure why there was a jump gate to Transylvania here in the first place, as it wasn't exactly a heavily populated system. She supposed it must have been for access to the mining on the planetoids there, but those had long been stripped of their resources, so the gate shouldn't really be guarded these days. 

She was startled from her ruminating when her long-range sensors picked up a large blip near the gate. "Mike, Warren, what is that thing?" 

"Shit," Mike uttered. "It's a Military cruiser, blocking the gate. Looks like she's got some fighters with her, too." 

"We shall clear the path for you!" Warren said. The Jackrabbits broke formation and zoomed on ahead, followed closely by Mike. 

"Be careful," Talia warned them as they flew off. 

Talia watched as lights flicked in the distance, weapons firing and ships exploding. It was difficult to tell from this distance, but she hoped those were enemy ships and not friendly ones being destroyed. As she came in range close enough to tell what was going on, she saw that the cruiser had taken some damage, and judging by the debris, a number of fighters had been destroyed. She started firing the transport's turrets at whatever fighters she could nail, managing to take down one damaged one that tried to escape past her. 

The Jackrabbits fought fiercely, and had taken out some of the cruiser's weapons, which didn't seem inclined to fire at her, to which she was grateful. They didn't want to lose the luminite, perhaps. "Surrender at once!" demanded the cruiser over the comm. 

"Never give up," said one of the Rabbits. He was on a collision course for the cruiser. "Never give in." With a fiery explosion, the Jackrabbit slammed into the cruiser, crashing through its hull and causing extensive damage. Smaller explosions rippled across the cruiser's hull as a chain reaction was set off. After several moments, the cruiser itself blew itself apart from the inside. 

Talia stared breathlessly at the scattering debris that was once a cruiser and rubbed her head gently, wondering how many people had been aboard. The remaining fighters, panicked and demoralized, immediately began fleeing the area. Most of them didn't make it, but the Dancers of Death didn't pursue them, staying to guard the transport. 

"Let's get through the gate!" Mike said urgently. 

Talia steered the transport into the gate numbly. She massaged her temples, trying to ease her aching head. Once on the other side, she morbidly looked up the stats on that ship. The standard crew complement of a Victory-class cruiser was two thousand people. No wonder her head hurt so much. It would have to have been thousands for them to affect her at that distance. Zombie-like, she tried to block out the pain and mindlessly follow the Death Dancers to the base.


	18. Joyriding.

Kalli flew the Nova into the Sydney system, making some minor repairs and getting comfortable with how it handled. Most of the real problems, she concluded, would have to be looked at by an expert. She didn't have the training to figure out what was really wrong with it in some cases. The gravity was uneven, and patches toward the back of the ship it faded out entirely, making it disorienting to walk across the ship. 

She wondered if she dared dock at Wellington or if she should keep going. Sleeping in the cockpit was uncomfortable, but it wasn't like she hadn't done it plenty of times already, and she could probably rig an alarm to wake her up if anything came on the sensors. If the long-range sensors weren't busted, too, at least. 

Eventually settling on keeping going, Kalli nibbled on a space ration and dozed off in her seat. At least gravity was fairly normal in the pilot's seat, if nothing else. At least she knew the autopilot worked properly, which she'd already determined while fully awake. 

After some hours, the computer helpfully woke her with a persistant dinging sound. That wasn't the sound she had set for it to make if any enemy ships came on the scanner. Kalli woke groggily and turned off the alarm, and realized that it was because she'd reached the jump hole to the Secundus system. She had decided to take the longer way around through Lorres instead of through Rath, as it would probably be less watched. 

Kalli entered the jump hole and arrived in Secundus, from there plotting in the course to the Lorres jump hole. She fished out another bit of a ration and munched on that as well. Judging by the map, at least, the jump holes in Secundus were far away from the inhabited planet, bases, and gates that she shouldn't be bothered. 

She settled in a bit more as she waited, amusing herself balancing her food rations in the null-gravity corner of the ship with a snicker. She wondered how people flying alone on long trips stayed sane, as she had only been on her own for a day and a half now and was already getting a little batty. It wasn't like coming up from Balzac to Secundus had been, as that had been through jump gates and using the gates was usually faster than the jump holes. 

She probably wouldn't have stopped at all if she hadn't run into beaurocratic red tape on Secundus. Stupid Primo rules and regulations. They wouldn't let her leave the planet without a job, except to go back the way she came. What kind of a system was that? Good enough now that she wasn't bound by their rules and could blow up anyone that tried to enforce them on her. If this was what true freedom was really like, she didn't regret her decision back on Darwin to join up with Jake in his life of crime. 

The Nova fighter reached the jump hole to the Lorres system. Kalli headed through, navigating its twists and turns without much trouble. From there, she set a course straight for the Transylvania jump hole. She was starting to think her long-range sensors didn't work at all, as she hadn't picked up anything all the way from Darwin, when a group of Raven-class fighters appeared on her scanners. They were approaching from the Cryces Asteroid Field. 

She received a signal from them. "Who are you?" it said. 

"I'm Kalli May of the Dancers on the Edge of Death, en route to Transylvania." 

A couple minutes later, the response came. "I haven't heard of you. And I've never seen that kind of ship before." 

Kalli replied, "I came through Cryces Base about two weeks ago with Jake Walker and Mike Pratt. Do you know them?" 

A minute later, and there was an answer. "Yes. Go on, I suppose. It's awfully risky flying through this area alone, though." The ships were still approaching. 

"Heh. Don't you worry for me," Kalli said with a chuckle. "I feel like I could take on the galaxy today." 

They were close enouh that there was almost no noticeable delay this time. "Is that so, eh? What kind of ship is that, anyway?" 

"This is an experimental Nova X-1 prototype heavy fighter," Kalli replied. "It's top secret. And stuff." 

"Really now. I suppose you wouldn't mind us taking a look at this 'stuff', now would you?" 

Kalli sighed. "I need to meet Mike and Jake on Dracula Base in the Transylvania system. I don't have time for this." 

"Ah, I just wanna take a look, I won't touch anything," the pirate said. 

"If you want to look so badly, you can wait till I reach Dracula Base, if you're so insistant on being my escort or something. Not that I'd need one." 

"Fine, fine, let's go to Dracula then. Fine by me. Bill, head back to Cryces and tell 'em where we're heading if anyone cares to ask." One of the Ravens broke off and headed back toward the asteroid belt. 

As they flew toward the jump hole, Kalli paranoidly set up what the ship's builders had been negligent to forget, and password protected the controls so that not just anyone could fly off with it. They'd need to enter her password, "Hamilton wood snake", just to start the engines. Furthermore, she set it up to deliver an electrical shock through the control panel if they entered an incorrect password. Just a mild one as a warning. But just in case it was ever necessary, she set it up to deliver a much heavier shock if they entered "Xyzzy" as the password. Feeling herself clever, she entered the jump hole to the Transylvania system, the four Raven-class pirate fighters with her. 

The Transylvania system was dark and ominous, the husk of a dying star lighting the distance and a deep blood red nebula hanging before her. The nebula brought to mind images of bats and dripping blood, leaving no question as to why this system was named such. The Ravens remained on her tail as she entered the cloud and made for the coordinates of the base. She hoped that the others had had as good of luck as she did with their mission.


	19. Funeral in Transylvania.

Dracula Base looked about as ominous as the cloud itself, hovering within the nebula a twisted and malevolent structure occasionally backlit by flashes of light from the cloud itself. It was much larger than Wellington or Cryces Base. Kalli found it all a bit unnerving. She signalled the base to dock and was happy enough that it was accepted without question. 

She landed in the docking bay and turned off the engines. Her rations fell to the floor with a smack as the base's gravity took over. After double-checking that they'd need a password to take off again, Kalli climbed out of the ship. 

"Kalli!" said Mike, approaching. "Oh, she's beautiful." Kalli had a feeling he was refering to the ship and not herself. 

"The Nova X-1, they called it," Kalli said. "There's a few minor glitches, but everything important is working perfectly. It's fast and handles light as a feather, and its weapons cut through Barracudas like butter." 

The leader of the pirate squadron that had followed her from Lorres approached. "So that's the Nova," he said. 

Kalli felt a good deal more comfortable with Mike here. She'd been almost afraid she'd have to have shot down the pirates, and didn't think that would have boded well for her reputation with them. "So who are _you_ , anyway?" she asked him. 

"James Dane," he said. "But you can call me Jimmy." 

"Ah, Jimmy Dane!" Mike said. "What brings you down from Cryces? Did Kalli really need the escort that badly?" He grinned. 

"It looked a bit suspicious," Jimmy said. "We came alone to make sure there was no funny business." 

"That was awfully brave of you," Mike said. "Were you planning on becoming a Death Dancer?" 

Jimmy raised an eyebrow. "Why? It was just one ship, and a big one too. Our Ravens would have flown circles around her." 

Kalli gave a knowing grin. "I think anyone who underestimates this ship is in for a surprise. And likely their last one. I could have destroyed you all without taking a scratch." 

"Bah, Death Dancers are always so overconfident," Jimmy said. "Be serious, now." 

"I was attacked by two Barracudas on the way out of Darwin," Kalli said. "Maybe two shots each. They never knew what hit them." 

Jimmy stared at her. Mike just laughed. "Jimmy," he said, "you're looking at a top secret prototype ship Kalli helpfully stole for us. It's based around a luminite power source." 

"Luminite? You can't be serious. That's just fancy jewelry." 

"I'm sure people once thought the same thing of diamonds before their other uses were delved into," Mike commented. 

A Rabbit shortly joined them. "So this is the vessel I have heard so much about!" 

"This is it," Mike said. "The Nova." Mike made some introductions. "Warren, how's Talia?" 

"She remains unconscious. The transport, however, is secure and is being offloaded," said the Rabbit. "We are beginning the funeral party for Phaedrus two hours hence in the recreational hall." 

"Great. I'll be sure to be there," Mike said. "Need to get somebody started on taking down the design for the Nova here." 

Kalli said, "I've password-protected the engine startup to make sure nobody makes off with it as easily as I did, just as a precaution, so if anyone needs that they'll have to call me in." 

Mike nodded. "Smart move. You didn't have much trouble nabbing it, then?" 

"Not really," she said. "That silly Kangaroo, Tom, insisted on coming along and got himself killed, though. Didn't listen to my warning." 

"Tom's dead, eh? Was probably doing too much muse again." Mike called over a team of engineers to get to work on the Nova. "Dracula Base has the proper facilities to build ships. It's where our Ravens generally are made. But we may need to bring in more materials in order to construct many Novas." 

Once they had everything settled and ready to go, they headed up to the recreation hall. It was considerably larger and cleaner than the tiny mess halls on the asteroid bases. Dracula felt like a real base and not a hole in a rock. 

The decor in the rec hall seemed to be some bizarre combination of cheerful and gothy. A banner with the Death Dancer symbol in red on black hung on one wall, with one saying "Goodbye, Phaedrus" hanging above it. There were red balloons and streamers hanging from the ceiling. The table was laid out with a punchbowl full of red punch, chocolate cake, cookies, cheese, carrots, and other treats. There was music playing from the comm system, and some people were dancing. 

"Nice party," Kalli commented. "Who is Phaedrus, anyway? And how did he die?" 

"Phaedrus Davor was one of my wingmen," Warren said. "His death allowed us to bring the transport of luminite to this location safely. He collided his ship into the Military cruiser that attempted to stop us, destroying it." 

"There was a _cruiser_ out there?" Kalli asked. 

Mike nodded. "I suspect it was sent there to escort the transport back to Karzan space. They must really have wanted to keep that luminite secure." 

"You don't suppose they'll try to attack us here, do you?" 

Mike shrugged. "They might. But Transylvania is completely under the control of the pirates these days. We've got sensor buoys and automated relays from here to the jump gate, so we'll know hours before they arrive if anyone comes through that gate." 

Kalli nodded. "Alright." 

"What, eager to get a chance to try out that ship in combat again?" 

Kalli chuckled, grabbing a cookie and munching on it. "It's quite a nice ship. Even if the artificial gravity doesn't work entirely right. What happened to Talia, anyway? Was she hurt?" 

"Not sure," Mike said. "She said she'd taken the transport without any problems, and the medic didn't find anything physically wrong with her, but she's out cold. Maybe the stress or something. Does stress make people randomly pass out? I wouldn't know." 

"I am certain she will be well shortly," Warren said. "It could not be anything too serious. The medic would have detected something otherwise." 

A holovid of the battle and the destruction of the cruiser was being played on one of the screens in the rec hall. Kalli turned to watch it for a while, pouring herself a glass of punch and helping herself to another cookie. "Never give up. Never give in," said the recording of Phaedrus as his ship slammed into the Military cruiser. 

"Never give up. Never give in," Kalli whispered. 

Mike's hand touched her shoulder. "Care to join me in a dance?" 

"Sure." 

They danced of death well into the night.


	20. The Problem With Being a Psyker.

Talia slowly woke, and wondered where she was. Her head still ached a bit, but it had eased down to a dull pain. Blinking open her eyes, she realized that she must be on Dracula Base. She couldn't really remember having arrived here. The last few hours of the trip through the Transylvania system were all a pained blur. 

"Ah, finally awake, Talia," said a woman's voice. "Are you hungry?" 

Talia sat up slowly and rubbed her eyes. She was dizzy and her vision blurry. After a moment she said, "I think I'll just stay laying down a bit more," and laid back down, rubbing her head. 

"Good idea. Don't worry, this isn't space rations. Just some soup." 

Talia closed her eyes again as the woman carefully spooned soup into her mouth. It was warm and watery, but didn't taste bad. "The transport," Talia asked. "Did the transport get in alright?" 

"Everything's fine," said the woman. "Don't worry. Just focus on regaining your strength." 

After eating a bit more soup, Talia faded off into sleep again. She came to sometime later, feeling much better. The pain in her head had faded almost completely, and she was able to stand without any dizziness. 

"Ah, good to see you up and about again, Talia. I'm the nurse, Leah Copeland. How are you feeling?" 

"Much better, thank you." 

"A Kalli May arrived at base yesterday," said the nurse. "Mr. Pratt said to notify you when you woke up." 

"Kalli's here? Great." Talia headed for the door and stumbled a bit as she tried to move too fast. "Ugh, maybe I should take it a bit easier here." 

"I'd best monitor you," Leah said. "Do you have any idea what could have caused you to pass out like that? My scans didn't bring up any physical problems." 

"Yes, but, I'd rather not talk about it," Talia said. Few enough people realized she had any unusual abilities, nevermind was a fully trained psyker. "I'll be fine." 

"If you insist," Leah said with a shrug. "I think the party's still going on down in the rec hall. I'll help you down there if you want." 

"Yeah. Thanks." With Leah's help she headed down toward the rec hall. Most of the food had been eaten, the balloons popped, and the streamers were coming down. Likewise there weren't still many people around, but Mike and Kalli were there, dozing lightly. Talia nudged Mike with her foot lightly. 

Mike stirred and jumped to his feet. "Talia! There you are. Feeling better? Where the hell are my pants?" He turned and began to search for his missing trousers. Kalli, woken by the commotion, also got up, rubbing her eyes. 

"I heard Kalli had arrived. Did you get the prototype fighter?" Talia asked. 

Kalli nodded groggily. "The Nova X-1. Yes, it's in the docking bay. The engineers are down there working on duplicating it. The ones who weren't up here partying at least." 

"Pity I missed the party," Talia said. She carefully leaned over the refreshment table and helped herself to helped herself to what was left of the punch. It was lukewarm by now, but she didn't really care. 

"There they are," Mike said, triumphantly holding aloft his trousers. 

"I want to launch another mission when we're ready and recovered," Talia said. "I think one of my friends may be in trouble back in Toronto. If he's even still alive." 

"Ah, a suicide mission into the heart of Karzan space?" Mike said, now fully clothed again. "Count me in!" 

"Sounds good to me," said Kalli. "When do we leave?" 

Talia took an odd look at Kalli again. She couldn't figure out why the girl was unreadable to her, as she'd given none of the signs of being a trained psyker. Perhaps she had a latent talent, but in Talia's case, she hadn't been able to shield her thoughts at all until she had been trained extensively to do so, nevermind shield them infallibly like this. Experimentally, she tried to send her a telepathic message, but couldn't get through at all. It was as if her mind just bounced off. 

"Something wrong?" Kalli asked. 

Talia shook her head. "I'm still a bit woozy to fly right now. Tomorrow?" 

Mike nodded. "That'll give us a chance to clean up here. What happened to you, anyway? Did you hit your head or something?" 

"I'm fine. Don't worry about me." She sat down in a chair and sipped her lukewarm punch. 

"Yes, stay seated a bit," Leah said. "Hmm, increased heart rate," she said, poking at the medical scanner in her hand. "How are you feeling, Talia?" 

"Just peachy," she said dryly. She wondered how long she could keep this all a secret from her friends. Just passing out like that deserved some sort of explanation. She couldn't hide it forever. Maybe she should just come clean with it all. 

Mike sat down and pulled his chair across from her. "Talia, what really happened there? You know you can talk to me." 

Talia sighed. She knew she could trust Mike, at least. But she didn't know Kalli very well, and furthermore couldn't scan her to determine her true allegiance. She couldn't risk it in front of Kalli. "I'll tell you later, okay?" 

"Fine. Later," Mike said. 

Jake turned up and approached them. "Hey, guys. That was some party, wasn't it? I must say, you Death Dancers are crazy coots, but you can sure throw a party. Even if it's for odd reasons. Hey, Talia. Good to see you. Everything fine over here?" 

"Yeah, everything's just fine," Talia said. 

Mike said, "We're planning to leave for Toronto in the morning. You meaning to go with?" 

Jake shook his head. "The engineers need supplies to build the new Nova fleet with, so I've volunteered my freighter to haul in materials from Cryces. I'll stand a better chance of not getting horribly killed that way, too." 

"Suit yourself. You'll miss out on all the fun," Mike said with a grin. 

"I much prefer the fun when _I_ decide where to go and it doesn't involve me getting shot at a lot." 

Talia finished up her punch. "As for today," she said, "I'd like to take a look at this super-ship for myself." 

"Are you sure you can make it all the way down there?" Leah asked with concern. 

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm _fine_ ," Talia said, standing up. She put down her punch glass and walked fairly steadily over to the door. The others followed along behind her. 

When Talia got her first look at the Nova fighter, she discovered something. It was shiny. It had a sleek, elegant design very different from many of the ships currently in use. Although it was large and clearly very heavy, it had a grace that seemed to defy that. The Nova X-1 merged strength and beauty in one package. 

"Nice ship," Talia said. She opened the hatch and took a look around the interior. "Roomy, too." 

"Yeah," Mike said. "I can't wait till I get my very own one of these babies." 

"Did my Raven get removed from the transport and docked properly?" Talia asked. 

"Probably. Don't worry about it." 

"Almost makes me feel like we'd be better off just all flying in this"Nah," Mike said. "My Sabre is plenty strong enough, and your Raven is fast enough to evade any attacks if necessary, long enough for us to mop up." 

"Assuming you don't blow up anymore cruisers," Talia muttered almost inaudibly. 

"What was that?" 

"Nothing. I think I'll just get some real food in my stomach and get some more rest."


	21. A Dark Interlude.

Donovan silently cursed that crazy human woman and glanced around the ruins of his stronghold. He had never expected that his own weapon might be taken and used against him like that. He must be more cautious in the future. Frantically, he searched about for Meg. 

"Meg," Donovan breathed. "Where is Meg? Oh, she must be alright. Please let her be alright." 

He crawled under a collapsed beam and came to her room, and fumbled around in his pocket for the key. Shaking, he grasped the key and shoved it in the keyhole, his hand trembling as he turned it carefully and yanked the door open. 

"Don!" cried Meg, crawling out from under the bed. Much of the ceiling had collapsed, but the bed was intact and had prevented her from taking serious injury. 

"Oh, Meg," Donovan said. "Thank goodness you're alright. We have to get out of here. It isn't safe here anymore." 

Meg just nodded nervously and they scrambled out through the ruined corridors to get to the hangar. Donovan's Sabre-class fighter was there, and Mr. Penner and the pilot were there waiting for him. 

"Let us leave immediately," Donovan said, helping Meg into the fighter. 

"Fortunately," Mr. Penner said, "my designs for the Nova are intact. Given the time and materials, I will be able to construct another. A whole fleet, given the manpower for it." 

"And then that little wench will pay for this," Donovan snarled. "We will travel to planet Harris in the Tau system. The transport of luminite should arrive there shortly." 

"A wise precaution, my lord, to move this operation to a more remote world," said Mr. Penner. "A fleet under construction on planet Darwin would certainly be noticed by the Military, as they apparently noticed even a single ship being built." 

"The Rath system will doubtless be on alert for any potentially suspicious activity," Donovan said. "We shall travel through the Tasmania system instead. With any luck, we shall thusly arrive on planet Harris without being molested." 

"As you wish, my lord." 

"Let us be off at once, then." 

They climbed into the fighter, Mr. Penner taking the copilot's seat, and Donovan climbing in back with Meg. The pilot eased the Sabre out of the hangar and lifted off away from planet Darwin. Donovan squeezed Meg's hand reassuringly, glancing briefly out the window at the smoking ruins of what was once his great stronghold. 

"You will pay for this, human," Donovan murmured harshly. "I will have my revenge. Soon. Then, you shall regret crossing me. You should have surrendered when you had the chance." 

The Sabre-class fighter flew off into the darkness, away from planet Darwin and heading toward the jump hole to the Tasmania system. A small patrol of Barracudas passed by them, but fairly well ignored them entirely after making a quick scan to make sure they weren't carrying contraband. 

"I'll keep you safe, Meg," Donovan whispered to her. "I won't let anyone hurt you. Never. They might try, yes, like that filthy wench tried today, but they will not succeed. I will not let them hurt you, Meg. I'll keep you safe, yes. Safe."


	22. Revelations and Confrontations.

"I honestly don't think I'm up to piloting right now," Talia said. Although she was feeling considerably better, she didn't trust her reflexes if they got into another serious fight. The Raven was unforgiving, and needed lightning-fast responses to stay alive. 

"If you think so, Talia," Mike said. "Do you want to ride with me or Kalli?" 

"I'll ride with you," Talia said. Kalli glanced at her a bit oddly, but didn't say anything. Unable to properly scan Kalli, she couldn't identify the look. She hoped it wasn't jealousy or something. 

Talia and Mike climbed into the Sabre, and Kalli into the Nova, and they set off from Dracula Base. "Alright, Kalli," Mike said. "I've plotted a course that'll get us to Toronto fastest, barring any Military ships wanting to die. Let's go." 

They headed off toward the jump hole to the Lorres system. Talia was comfortably settled into the co-pilot's seat. She gestured quietly to switch off the comm. Mike did so with a touch of exasperation. 

"So what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" Mike said. 

"When I passed out bringing the transport in," Talia murmured. "It was because of psychic shock from two thousand people dying a few hundred meters from me. That's why I didn't trust myself to fly my Raven on this mission. For fear something similar would happen if we got into a big fight." 

"Psychic shock?" Mike repeated incredulously. 

"Yes, Mike," Talia said with a sigh. "I'm a psyker." 

"Well, damn," Mike said. "So why didn't you want Kalli to hear this? You don't think we can trust her?" 

"I don't honestly know," Talia admitted. "I can't scan her for some reason. At first I thought she must be a well-trained psyker to block me, but then I realized she'd given no indication of such and couldn't receive messages either." 

"I really don't know much about psykers," Mike said. "But that sounds fairly odd. Why do you suppose that might be?" 

"If I were the kind to jump to wild theories, I'd suggest that she's really an android, or an alien, or something silly like that." 

Mike laughed aloud. "Well, she seems perfectly human to me." 

"I imagine so," Talia said dryly. "Do you think she's afraid we're-- or-- something..." 

"I don't think so," Mike said. "Though maybe you should ride with her tomorrow and try to talk to her about it. Maybe she knows why. I'm pretty sure we can trust her. She's had plenty of opportunities to betray us and has proven nothing but loyal." 

"I suppose I'll have to do that, won't I?" Talia commented. "If you really think so, I'll try to trust her more, then. It just makes me uneasy when I can usually read people like a book, and she's closed to me." 

"I could understand that, I suppose," Mike said. "Not that I know what it's like to be a psyker. Damn, you talk about trusting her, how long have you kept _that_ from us? Heh." 

"From the beginning," Talia answered ruefully. "I was trained by an El'dari named Anderos Velarh, before I ever met you. He's the one we're going to try to rescue." 

"But why?" 

"I didn't know how you might react to it. Much as it seems like I can glean a lot of information from somebody, I can't always tell how they might react in certain situations. Psykers aren't exactly common, after all, and a lot of people seem uneasy around those who can pick up their every thought if they wanted." 

Mike didn't seem the least bit uneasy about it. "Ah, what do I care if you really want to peek in on perverted thoughts about Kalli?" 

Talia snickered softly. "Yes, you do get used to that after a while." 

They flew on into the jump hole to the Lorres system. Mike switched on the comm again. "Once we leave this system, it'll be a rough ride through the heart of Karzan space. Primus, Terra, and Toronto. You want to stop at Cryces Base and rest up first, or shall we just plunge straight into Primus? There's no possible stops in the Primus system, but we can stop at Miranda Base in Terra." 

"Keep going, I think," Kalli said over the comm. 

Talia took the controls as Mike took a few hours' nap while they headed through the Lorres system. He'd need to be fully rested when they reached Primus, where they'd most likely have to fight. When they crossed through the jump hole to Primus, Talia nudged Mike awake. He instantly snapped to an awake and alert position, which had always amused Talia. 

"How you doing over there, Kalli?" Mike said. 

"I'm okay," Kalli's voice said. "So this is Primus, huh? Doesn't look like much." 

"Yeah," Mike said. "The Primo home system. They've stripped their system clean of resources over the centuries and overpopulated their planet to the point where it's getting fairly silly. They think their own damned military is expendable, since if one dies, there's a hundred more just like him all lined up and ready to go. It's no wonder that the Death Dancers arose from this." 

As they flew through the Primus system, a patrol of Barracudas crossed their path. "Unknown ships, please submit your identification data." 

"How cute," Kalli said. "Four of 'em. Two for me, two for you?" 

"Sure thing," Mike replied. He powered up weapons and began firing into the Barracudas. The four ships were reduced to debris in a surprisingly short period of time. Talia was impressed by the sheer power of the Nova. She rubbed her head warily, but they were too far away and too few of them to have any real effect on her. 

"Nice weapons," Talia commented. 

"Yeah," Mike agreed. "Best thing that we just blow them up instead of trying to talk to them. It'll be better if nobody knows we're here until we're gone. Though that may be compromised at Miranda, but the Military doesn't generally hang around there too much." 

They continued to fly on through the Primus system, occasionally running across another patrol and destroying it without hesitation. Finally, they reached the jump hole to the Terra system. 

"I suppose the proper term should be the Sol system," Mike commented. "But everyone just calls it the Terra system anyway. Keep your side arms on at Miranda. It can get rough there sometimes." 

The Sabre and the Nova flew into the jump hole and came out in the Terra system. Mike led them off toward an icy moon orbitting a gas giant on the edge of the system. Miranda Base was a large, sprawling enclosed facility built on the surface of the moon. They came down to land in Miranda's docking area. 

They climbed out of their ships and headed off into the base. After a walk down a corridor, they came to a common area with food being served and drinks being poured. Mike went and ordered them some food and drink and they sat down at a table next to a window, from which the icy cliffs of Miranda were clearly visible. 

"Here we go," Mike said, bringing in a tray of food and sitting down across from them. "Real food. Fresh from Mars." 

Talia picked up her spork and began to munch on her salad. They hadn't managed to make it halfway through their meal before a large man approached them. He was a Cybion, with a cybernetic implant replacing his left eye. "Talia Richards?" he snarled. 

She glanced uneasily up at him. Damn, he must be a bounty hunter or something. She didn't recognize him. "What do you want?" she asked. 

The man pulled out a blaster and pointed it at her. "I want the million credit bounty on your head. Now, do you want to do this the hard way, or the easy way?" 

Two guns were pointed at the bounty hunter in an instant. Talia said. "You know, it would probably be healthier to try to collect a bounty when there _aren't_ two Death Dancers sitting at the table. And only a million credits? Cheapskates. I'm sure they could have afforded at least two or three." 

The bounty hunter didn't lower his weapon. There was a flash of light as one of the Death Dancers' weapons fired at him, striking him dead in the chest. Pain seared briefly through Talia's head as the Cybion collapsed to the ground. Mike calmly put his blaster away and resumed eating. Talia rubbed her head, glancing over them. Kalli slowly lowered her weapon and put it away. It was difficult to tell which one of them had fired. 

"He might have given us away," Mike murmured. "Good work, Kalli. Although there might be an agent on Miranda with more discretion than him who might inform somebody that we're here." 

"Let's hope not," Talia muttered, trying to ignore her headache and resume eating. It wasn't really too bad, compared to when the cruiser had been destroyed in front of her, and eased off fairly immediately. Some random guy dragged off the corpse. "We should sleep in the ships," Talia said. 

Mike nodded. "If you like." 

They finished up eating and went back to the ships. Mike and Kalli holed up in the Nova, leaving Talia to the Sabre by herself. She didn't much mind the arrangement. But she ended up thinking and worrying too much about Anderos before she fell asleep. Was he even still alive? How could they find him if he was? With a sigh, she pushed it out of her mind and drifted off to sleep.


	23. Toronto.

Kalli woke the next morning when Mike stirred. She climbed to her feet, yawning and stretching. Mike leaned over and gave her a kiss before opening the hatch and hopping out. A few minutes later, Talia came into the ship. 

"I'll fly with you today if you don't mind," Talia said. 

"Sure, take a seat," Kalli said, gesturing to the co-pilot's seat. 

Kalli punched in her password and started up the engines before Talia sat down and got settled in. "Do you have any idea where your friend might be?" 

"I last saw him in Ottawa, on planet Toronto," Talia said. "Beyond that, he could be anywhere by now. But it's somewhere to start at least." 

Once her ship was powered up and ready to go, she flew out behind Mike's sabre out of the hangar. She pointed her ship off toward the jump hole to the Toronto system and flew off away from Miranda. They circled around Uranus and headed toward the Kuiper Belt, where the jump hole to the Toronto system was located, according to her map. 

Mike was singing over the comm. "We're just a couple of crazy monkeys, flying out of Uranus." 

Kalli snickered softly. "What the hell song is that?" 

"Hey, it was popular around here, about, oh, ten years ago or so," Mike said. "Miranda was a happening place, back in the day." 

"Heh," Kalli said. "Ten years ago, I was twelve." 

They managed to reach the jump hole to the Toronto system without encountering any further Military patrols, to which Kalli was mildly disappointed. It was a thrill to fly in the Nova and to see its weapons at work. She flew through the jump hole, maneuvering through its twists and turns easily and came out on the other end. 

Talia gestured at her, and she raised an eyebrow and switched off the comm. "What's on your mind, Talia?" 

"Mike suggested that I talk to you," Talia said. "I think we might have had some sort of misunderstanding." 

"What do you mean?" 

"Well, I'm sorry I haven't been very trusting of you. I had my reasons, of course, but it's just been difficult for me to trust somebody whom I can't read, even though Mike said you could be trusted," Talia sighed. Kalli raised an eyebrow, uncertain what she was talking about. "You see, Kalli, I'm a psyker, and the reason I didn't trust you at first was because I can read most people and determine their intentions with a bit of effort, but I can't read you. I don't know why I can't read you, though. Do you have any idea why I might not be able to read you?" 

Kalli raised her other eyebrow. "A _psyker_? I don't think we ever had any of those back at home. But no, I don't know why. I've never actually met a psyker before, or really heard anything other than rumors, and for the most part crazy ones at that. Stuff like all psykers have white eyes and can only use their power if they touch you. Silly nonsense, really." 

"Heh," Talia said. "Yeah, nonsense. Maybe it's a common enough thing and my training was just incomplete. Maybe it's natural for whatever world you're from. Maybe it's genetic or something. I don't know." 

"I don't know. My mother was a Cybion. Might that have had anything to do with it?" 

"Possibly," Talia replied pensively. 

They encountered another small patrol on the way to planet Toronto, which they finished off easily and quickly. It was almost stopping being fun, what with how easy it was with the Nova. Then they arrived at the planet and zoomed down to land at the coordinates Talia had given for the landing platform on the outskirts of Ottawa. It was currently late evening in this part of the planet. 

Kalli put on her side arms, shut off the engines, and climbed out of the ship. Now this was more exciting. She wasn't surrounded by impenetrable metal now. It was just her and any potential enemy. She grinned slightly to herself as Talia led them over toward the cafe where she had met Anderos several days ago. 

The girl behind the counter looked up nervously at them and glanced at their side arms, then at their Death Dancer insignia, and apparently decided not to confront them about it. Mike went up to the counter and took on an official manner. "Excuse me, ma'am. We are searching for a man who may have been in here a week ago, maybe two. An El'dari. Name of Anderos Velarh. Blond hair. About this tall. Have you seen him?" 

The woman at the counter shook her head nervously, staring at his Death Dancer symbol, but an elderly woman seated in a corner with a cup of tea spoke up. "Yes, I was in here that day. Some Military folks came and arrested him, right in the middle of the cafe and everything! He tried to put up a right fight too, but they stuck him with a tranquilizer and knocked him out, and dragged him off." 

"Thank you for your cooperation, ma'am. Your information is most valuable," Mike said. He gestured to her and Talia, and led them out of the cafe. 

"So he still might be alive!" Talia whispered fiercely once they were outside and alone in the Toronto night. 

However, they discovered that there was a group of people in uniform standing around their ships. The Karzan Military uniform. Kalli whipped out her blasters and fired without hesitation. Beside her, Talia and Mike were doing likewise only a second later. They didn't have any cover, however, and the soldiers outnumbered them. One of the blasts struck her, and the world spun for a moment before she went out cold. 

Kalli woke an indeterminate time later. She was tied up on the floor of the Nova, hands behind her back, with a man pointing a blaster at her standing over her. Mike was also tied up next to her, but Talia was nowhere in sight. There were two other men in the ship, a middle-aged man with a mustache and a young, scrawny kid, both also in uniform. 

"You," the middle-aged man pointed at her. "What is the password for the ship?" 

"You think I'm just going to tell you that?" Kalli asked. 

He glanced at the younger man, who shook his head. "I'm sorry, Commander Paskins. I can't read her for some reason." 

Kalli's eyes flicked suspiciously to the young man, then back to Commander Paskins. Beside her, Mike groaned and woke up, immediately trying to struggle against his bonds. Kalli said, "Really now. Ropes? How primitive." 

"You shall see just how primitive and barbaric I can get, little Death Dancer," said Paskins. "Now, the password. Before I have to show you for myself." 

The young man said, "The man doesn't know it." 

Kalli said, "You can't kill me if I don't tell you, because then I wouldn't be around to tell you anymore." 

"There are far more interesting ways to make someone talk than simply killing," said the commander. 

"Besides that," Kalli said, "Even if I did tell you, you'd probably just kill us anyway since you'd have what you wanted then, wouldn't you?" 

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," he said with a grin. "We're always in need of good pilots, after all." 

"And where is Talia?" Kalli demanded. 

Paskins gave her a sharp kick in the leg. "I ask the questions around here, girl." 

Mike said, "You aren't going to get anything from us. Where is Talia?" he asked fiercely. 

Kalli worked to try to free herself from the ropes. Why had they used ropes? Surely handcuffs or restraining fields would have worked better. And this certainly didn't seem to be the Military's typical mode of operation. 

"Your cooperation may also well be helpful for the well-being of your friend, as well," Paskins said with a grin. 

Kalli forced herself to remain calm. She was in control of the situation, she told herself. They wanted the Nova for whatever reason and could not get it without her password. And they could not get it from her unless she told them. She hoped that the engineers at Dracula Base hadn't fixed the control panel malfunction she had exploited during her initial run of the ship. If she could just get her way out of these ropes. 

"Now, a skilled Death Dancer would have a place of honor among my fleet," Commander Paskins droned on. "You never know, you might even be allowed to keep your ship." 

"It might be a tempting offer," Kalli said, "If you're serious, at least." She continued to work against her ropes carefully. 

"Don't listen to him, Kalli," Mike warned. 

"Silence," Paskins snapped. "Now, miss Death Dancer, you could earn an honored place at my side. I value competent and loyal pilots, after all. Now, what do you say?" 

That he was resorting to bribery at all was an indication that he was desparate and didn't seem very skilled in the art of interrogation without the help of his little psyker over there. Kalli sighed and put on a thoughtful mask on her face, and said, "You'll give me this, if I tell you the password?" Success! Her hand slipped free of the ropes finally, but she remained still so as not to indicate this. 

"Oh, absolutely," Commander Paskins promised. 

"Very well," Kalli said with a sigh. "The password is 'Xyzzy'." 

Paskins's face lit up with delight. He turned to the control panel and said, "How do you spell that?" 

"X-Y-Z-Z-Y," Kalli intoned clearly. 

As Comamnder Paskins entered the last letter, a powerful electrical shock ran up his arm, and he let out an agonizing scream. Kalli leaped into action, knocking the guard to the ground and yanking the blaster from his hand. The young psyker ran to the hatch and managed to slip away before Kalli could shoot him. Instead, she knocked out the guard and made damn sure Paskins wasn't getting up anytime soon. 

"Damn, good job, Kalli," Mike said. "You really had me going there, too." He tossed away his ropes and got up. He peered out the window. "Damn them, they took my Sabre." He retreived his side arms and dragged the two unconscious men to the back of the ship. "I'll keep an eye on them. Let's get out of here and find Talia." 

Kalli nodded, put in her password, and started up the engines.


	24. Let's Get Creepy.

Talia woke up to find herself in a forcefielded cell. She wasn't entirely certain just where she was, and was alone except for a silent guard with a blaster across from her, outside the forcefield. 

"Where am I?" she demanded. The guard didn't answer. She tried scanning him instead, and determined that she was on the Yukon Military Base in the Toronto system. It wasn't particularly helpful, as the guard didn't know who she was or even why she was being held here. Talia sighed, and settled in to waiting and pacing impatiently about her cell. 

After some time, two men in uniform came in. One was a large man, probably in his twenties. The other was short and couldn't be older than sixteen. The large man said. "Ah, Talia Richards, you are awake. Excellent." 

Talia stopped her pacing and turned toward him, going up as close to the forcefield as she dared. She felt it prickling at the hair on her arms. "Why am I here?" she asked. 

"Do not presume your innocence, Miss Richards," he said. "You know your crimes as well as I do. Still, we need to have a little chat now, don't you think?" 

"I don't look like I have any choice in the matter, do I?" Talia smirked. 

"No, you most certainly do not. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Captain Steven Henderson of the Karzan Military, and this is my _assistant_ , Mr. Ian Woon." 

Talia took the implication that Ian was a psyker. She was angry at the entire business. They were breaking their own laws. Psykers weren't supposed to be allowed to scan other trained psykers without permission. And yet she felt herself being scanned anyway. Well, she'd learned some techniques to screw with them anyway. 

"Now, please answer my questions openly and honestly, and I assure you things will be better for you," Captain Henderson said. 

"Fine," Talia said indignantly. 

"Firstly, were you planning the downfall of the Karzan Empire?" Henderson asked. 

Talia focused her mind securely on feelings of loyalty for the Empire and the well-being of its people. "Of course not." 

"Were you giving assistance to anyone who was intending to do so?" 

"Not at all," Talia insisted, still holding that image firmly in her mind. 

"Where did you obtain the Nova prototype fighter?" he asked. 

"We confiscated it from someone who _was_ planning to overthrow the Empire," Talia answered truthfully. 

"Really now. And who might this have been?" 

"A Koala by the name of Blake, located on Darwin," Talia said. 

Henderson looked at Ian Woon uneasily, who just nodded slightly. "Very well. Were you involved in the theft of the luminite transport from the Rath system?" 

Talia's mind unwittingly brought up memory of the pain. "Blake wanted to steal that transport," Talia answered, evading the question. "To build a fleet of luminite-powered super-fighters with which to take over the Empire." 

"Let's focus on that thought now, shall we?" Henderson said. "Did you witness the destruction of the Victory-class cruiser _Viceroy_?" 

She tried to block out the images again, but the feelings were impossible to counter. The pain, the anguish, thousands of souls crying out in pain an instant before their life was extinguished. She turned around and faced away from them, staring at the floor as tears came unbidden to her eyes. 

"So," he said. "You do know about it." 

"Yes," Talia rasped. The pain wasn't there anymore, not directly at least, but it still wasn't a very pleasant memory. She had never really objected to killing on moral grounds, as sometimes it was necessary for survival and the fulfillment of a cause, but the backlash from it on that scale was too much. "It wasn't my doing," she murmured. 

"You piloted that transport, didn't you." 

"I took it back from the ones who had hijacked it in the first place." 

"Did you now," drawled Captain Henderson. 

Talia nodded shakily. Behind her, she heard a faint buzz and felt the forcefield go down. She didn't move. She felt Captain Henderson's hand on her shoulder. 

"You did a good job, Talia. Spouted all the right lies and all the right truths. But you never did try to scan me." 

Talia turned and looked at him in confusion. Tentatively, she tried to scan him lightly, only to come across a psychic shield. He was a psyker too! "What?" she said quietly. 

"Now, dear Talia, where do your loyalties really lie? Come with me." 

Captain Henderson and Mr. Woon led her down the corridors to another chamber. There was a man in a chair there staring off at planet Yosemite, the orange-red gas giant around which Yukon Base orbitted. 

"Your Excellency, I have brought you Talia Richards," said Henderson. 

The chair slowly swiveled around to reveal a bald man whom she immediately recognized as the Chancellor. His ocular implant identified him as a Cybion. She was surprised to see him here. He gave a small smile at her and said, "Welcome to Yukon Base, Talia." 

"Greetings, Your Excellency," she said, bowing to him. "It is an honor." 

"Henderson, Woon, you have done well. You are dismissed." 

"As you wish, Excellency." They bowed and left the chamber. 

Once they were gone, the Chancellor said, "If you would show your loyalty to me, you will kneel before me." 

Talia was still extremely confused about what was going on here. But at this point she was shaken enough to feel that it was in her best interests to just go along with things for now. She complied with the Chancellor's wishes and dropped to her knees before him. 

He gave a faint smile. "What you have done in the past is inconsequential. Only the present and the future matter. Now, you are here. Where do you stand now?" 

"I don't know," she murmured uneasily. 

"No?" he said. He stood up slowly and walked over to her, touching her cheek with his long, bony fingers. She did not move. "Did Anderos Velarh never complete your training, my dear?" Talia was silent, shaking slightly. "No, I suppose there was much that he would have kept from you, wasn't there." 

She could not conceive of Anderos keeping anything from her, after all they'd been through together. But something about the way he said it made her doubt. He clearly seemed to know something she didn't. "I don't know," she whispered. 

"Never fear, dear Talia, for I will guide you."


	25. Your Chances of Survival Are Higher If You Shut the Fuck Up.

Kalli had taken the ship a ways away from Toronto, but still within the system and within easy access to its facilities and jump holes. Mike had the prisoners tied up with their own rope, commenting that he could tie a better knot than those morons. 

"Listen, buster," Mike was saying to the guard. "I don't give a damn if you live or you die. You aren't important here. You're nobody. You're nothing. You don't even have a name." 

"But I have a name," he insisted, "it's--" 

Mike smacked him. "Shut up." He turned toward Commander Paskins. "Now, you. You are going to tell me where Talia is, or I'm going to do some mean things to you. And I'm damn well better at interrogating than you, just like I'm better at tying a bloody knot!" 

"Why should I tell you that?" he grunted, straining against his bonds. 

"I'm a Death Dancer, and you should know damn well Death Dancers keep their bloody word," Mike said. "Now, if you don't start talking, I will cut off your balls." He pulled out a knife. 

"What!? You wouldn't do _that_!" 

"Want to bet?" Mike ripped off the guy's pants and pointed his knife at the commander's crotch. "And if you cooperate, I can promise you that you may live a longer, more pleasant life." 

"You're bluffing! You're bluffing... aren't you?" Paskins stuttered. 

Mike pressed his knife closer, close enough to draw blood. "Am I? Do you really want to test that?" 

"Eep! No, no, please don't do it, I'll talk!" 

"Good," Mike said, holding the knife where it was. "Where is Talia?" 

"They took her off in your Sabre to the Alberta Prison." 

"Get that, Kalli?" Mike said, pulling his knife away. Kalli nodded, heading the Nova off in that direction. "Now, if you're lying..." He made a flicking motion with his knife meaningfully. Paskins winced. "Nice to know we understand one another." 

As they approached the prison located on one of Toronto's barren outer planets, Mike dragged Paskins up to the co-pilot's seat, making sure that the ropes were still securely tied. He pulled out his knife again and looked at him. 

"Alberta Prison, this is Commander Derek Paskins," he said into the comm. "I have gained control of the Nova prototype fighter. Has Talia Richards been delivered here safely?" 

"Negative, Commander," said the voice over the comm. "There has been no sign of her." 

Mike glared at Paskins. "Do you know where she might have been taken instead?" Paskins asked nervously. 

"Maybe she was taken to Yukon Base," the voice said. "Can't imagine why, though." 

Mike switched off the comm. "Ask about Anderos Velarh." He turned the comm back on. 

Paskins sighed inaudibly. "What about Anderos Velarh? Is he still being held here?" 

"Affirmative," said the comm. 

Mike gave Paskins another look. Paskins said, "I want him transfered to my ship." 

"Very well. Land at docking bay C and he will be brought to you." 

"Will do. Paskins out." Mike turned off the comm again. Kalli proceeded to dock the ship at the specified location. Paskins sighed. "You're asking too much. You're making me into a traitor. They'd never take me back after this stunt." 

"Would you prefer being a traitor, or a eunuch?" 

Paskins thought about that for a moment. If he was a good Primo, he'd believe that a eunuch could not get into heaven, and Mike was counting on that. "Better a traitor, then," he said with a sigh. "Fine. Though don't you think somebody's going to suspect something is up if they come here with the prisoner and I'm sitting here tied up?" 

"Generally I'd think you were trying to worm out of it, but you have a point there," Mike commented. They landed in the docking bay. "But if you try anything..." He untied Commander Paskins, who put his pants back on right and straightened them out as well as he could. 

"Uh, what about me?" said the guard tied up in the corner. 

"You shut up," Mike said. 

Kalli pulled out her weapon just in case. Mike took out his own and opened the hatch. Some guards were approaching with an El'dari in handcuffs. They came up to the ship and said, "The prisoner you requested, sir." 

"Excellent," Paskins said. "We will handle him from here. Dismissed." 

Mike gestured at the El'dari with his side arm, and he obligingly climbed in with a sigh. Kalli kept her weapon ready as Mike closed the hatch. "Let's go, Kalli." 

Kalli nodded and put her weapon away, turning back to the controls. She took them out of the docking bay and set in a course for Yukon Base. Mike removed Anderos's handcuffs. 

"Anderos Velarh?" Mike asked. The El'dari nodded. "Consider yourself rescued." Mike took a seat in the co-pilot's seat, but he kept his blaster out just in case Paskins tried something. 

"Rescued? How did you manage that?" Anderos asked, taking a seat in the back, and frowning a bit and staring at the floor as he went, no doubt puzzling over the gravity. 

"Great, I'm a bloody traitor," Paskins muttered, sitting across from him. 

"With a little help from Commander Paskins here," Mike said. "He decided to make things considerably easier on us and himself." 

"I'm a traitor," Paskins repeated. "Nobody will ever trust me again. Never again." 

Mike rolled his eyes. "Now, we're going to Yukon Base to see if we can find Talia." 

"Talia's here?" Anderos said in surprise. "What happened?" 

"She was supposed to have been taken to Alberta Prison with you," Paskins said. "I don't know why she might not have been taken there." 

Mike nodded. "She wanted to come rescue you, Anderos." 

"You shouldn't have come here," Anderos said. "It's too dangerous." 

"We're Death Dancers," Mike said. "We live for danger. Besides, we have the Nova X-1 prototype heavy fighter, powered by a luminite drive." 

"The Empire could have gotten their hands on it and built more!" Anderos said. 

"Built more with _what_ resources? We've captured the luminite transport and taken it where they'll never get it." 

"The mission was successful?" Anderos said, his eyes widening. 

"Completely," Mike said. "We even blew up a Victory-class cruiser on the way." 

"I'm a traitor," Paskins muttered. "They'll have my head for treason." 

Mike sighed. "You know, you could just stick with us and keep your head and your balls, Commander Paskins." 

"Call me Derek. I'm not a commander anymore." 

"Very well. Derek. I'm Mike. Nice to meet you. Shall we have some fine dining on space rations while we wait to get to Yukon Base?" 

"You know," said the guard in the corner. "The gravity is awfully heavy in this corner." 

"Would you overly mind if I chucked him out an airlock?" Mike asked. "Or is he a personal friend of yours?" 

"By all means," Derek said. "He's starting to get annoying." 

"No! No! I'll be good!" the guard pleaded. Mike grabbed him by the collar and dragged him to the back of the ship, and tossed him out the cargo bay airlock.


	26. Rescue the Damsel in Distress.

Kalli brought in the Nova fighter toward Yukon Military Base. Derek, in the co-pilot's seat, send a message to the base over the comm. "This is Commander Derek Paskins, to Yukon Base. Requesting status inquiry for a woman named Talia Richards. Is she present?" 

"Affirmative," came the reply. "She is listed as a guest." 

"Requesting permission to dock." 

"Permission granted," said the comm. "Please proceed to docking bay B." 

Kalli switched off the comm and headed over that way. "A guest?" she said. "Odd." 

Mike handed an extra side arm to Anderos. "We'll find out what's going on here and extract her if we have to blow up half the place to do it." 

Kalli brought them in to dock. She landed, powered down the engines, and checked to make sure her own side arms were securely strapped to her belt before standing and opening the hatch. There wasn't anyone else in the immediate vicinity, so she climbed out, followed by the others. 

"Let's find out where Talia is," Anderos said, approaching a console at the wall. He punched in some buttons. Kalli kept watch, alert for anyone being hostile in their general direction approaching their immediate vicinity. "The main computer reports her guest quarters to be located down that hallway. Let's go." 

Derek followed along behind them, although he didn't have a weapon himself, and Kalli was keeping about as much an eye on him to make sure he didn't do anything stupid as she was making sure no guards or anything came and decided to shoot at them. She thought she was starting to become a real paranoid Death Dancer like Mike. 

As they reached the corridor, a group of guards appeared and said, "Halt! You are under arrest!" and pointed weapons at them. Kalli did not hesitate to shoot first, and along with Mike and Anderos, took the guards down before they could even fire a shot. Derek leaned down and picked up one of their side arms. Kalli watched him warily. 

"You'd better be planning to use that on them and not us," Mike said, grabbing an extra weapon himself before continuing along down the corridor. 

"Well, so much for getting in here without any problems," Kalli commented. "I suppose they really want to die." 

"Looks like it," Mike said. 

"We must be cautious. They might try to steal the ship while we're here," Anderos said. 

Kalli barked a short laugh. "They can _try_." 

"You have it sufficiently secure?" 

Kalli nodded. "Oh yes, I would think so. Derek here can attest to that." 

"Yes, it came as quite a shock to me," Derek said dryly. 

Another group of guards tried to stop them, this time not bothering to demand their surrender before opening fire. They shot back, and even Derek downed a couple of them. That was sufficient for Kalli to decide he wasn't going to backstab them anytime soon. They arrived shortly at the door that Anderos said was the room Talia was being held in. 

"The door's locked," Anderos said. 

"Oh, I'm sure that was completely just for the sake of her own safety," Mike commented. "Derek, can you get it open?" 

Derek went up to the door and punched in some codes. "My security code has been disabled. I'll see if my override will work." He fiddled with it some more, and kept fiddling with it as another group of guards came to attack them pointlessly and got shot down quickly by the Death Dancers. "The Son smite this! It's no luck, they've removed all my access." 

"Step back," Mike said. Derek stepped away from the door. Mike shot the control panel with his blaster. The door did not look impressed. "Well, damn. It always works in holovids." 

"Nice going," Kalli said with a smirk. She went over and tried to see if there was a manual release. After a bit of searching, she found it and yanked on it. The door slid open to reveal Talia unconscious on the floor. 

"Talia!" Anderos cried, rushing over to her. 

"No time for medical attention, and we're not doctors anyway," Mike said. "Let's get out of here before they decide to send a small armored infantry division at us." 

Anderos sighed and slung the unconscious Talia over his shoulder and they turned and headed back down the corridor toward the docking bay. Once back in the docking bay, they encountered a small armored infantry division. Anderos swore and put down Talia at a relatively safe spot around the corner, and they began using the corner as cover to pick them off. 

"Now what?" Derek wondered. 

"Now we stand here shooting them until they stop bothering or they're all dead," Mike said. 

"Wonderful. Now I'm a traitor _and_ a mass murderer." 

They continued shooting fairly effectively, although they had to back further down the corridor into Talia's room again because there were just too many of them. "This is getting ridiculous," Mike said. 

Some more soldiers tried to come up down the other end of the corridor to sneak up on them from behind, but Derek spotted them and shot them down before they got close. "Eventually," Kalli said, "They're going to run out of people to chuck at us or figure out a better strategy." 

"They're Primo kids," Derek said. "Inexperienced, unskilled, and expendable. You can kill a hundred of them and nobody will notice. Or care." He sighed. 

"I don't care about exterminating the Primo population," Kalli said. "I just want to get to my ship." Kalli backed away from the doorway and searched the room for anything that might be used for any purpose useful toward getting the hell out of here. "They just couldn't be nice and leave anything useful in here," she muttered irritably. She ended up grabbing the couch and shoving it out into the hallway. 

"I hope that's a sturdy couch," Mike said, heading out to shoot from the couch. 

Derek said, "Should be. They also seem to be slowing down a bit." 

Rolling the couch along the floor, they managed to advance back to the docking bay again before it was stopped by a pile of corpses. The crowd had thinned considerably by now. "To the Nova!" Mike said, charging into the docking bay and blasting anyone that stood in his way. 

Stepping over and on bodies, they managed to cross the docking bay floor and got back to the ship. With Mike covering them, Kalli opened the hatch and climbed inside. She plopped herself down in the pilot's seat and started up the engines. The others climbed inside and sealed the hatch behind them. 

"I don't think they're going to kindly open the docking bay doors for us," Mike commented. 

"Well, they're going to open them or get them blown apart," Kalli said. She sent the request to leave, and received no response. "Guess they want to do this the hard way." 

Kalli lifted the Nova into the air and pointed it toward the securely closed docking bay doors, and began firing. They punched some nice holes in the doors, but didn't blow them out quite as well as she'd hoped for, so she just cut out a large circular hole in the bay doors large enough for the Nova to fly out, and headed out through it. 

As she'd expected, there was a fleet outside ready to try to stop them from escaping. "Looks like they brought out the welcoming committee," Kalli said. Mike took the co-pilot's seat leaving Anderos and Derek in back with the still-unconscious Talia. 

She transfered control of the secondary weapons over to the co-pilot's console so that they might get this done faster. Mike and her then began shooting at the fighters that were trying to attack them. "Set a course for the nearest jump hole," Mike said. "Fun as this is, we can't kill them all. Pity we couldn't get my damned ship back. Ah, just as well I suppose. I hope they've got a nice Nova ready for me back in Dracula when we get there." 

Kalli nodded and flew off in that direction, Mike still shooting anything that came too close. "They've got a cruiser back there," Kalli said. "But we can outrun it, easy. We're heading to the jump hole to the Tokyo system." 

"Tokyo?" Mike said. "Meh, it's a bit out of our way, but it'll do. If we have to get back to Transylvania by going around through the fringe worlds, we can do that. Though it'll be a bit quieter." 

Before long, they outpaced the slower Military ships and reached the jump hole. Kalli entered and flew through the tunnel, bending and spiraling its way to the Tokyo system. When they reached the other side, they came out in an asteroid belt on the edge of the Tokyo system. 

"Head for planet Honshu. That blue-green gas giant over there. There's a base on one of its larger moons that should be friendly to us." 

Kalli flew over there and landed at the indicated base. Seeing as they didn't start shooting at them on sight, she figured they were probably friendly. "I don't even want to get out," Kalli said wearily. "I just want to curl up and sleep right here." The only safe place was inside her ship. 

"Ah, don't worry," Mike said. "They're good people. There's a lot of Death Dancers on this base as well. The ninjas." 

"Alright, alright," Kalli said. "Do they have real food and real beds?" 

"Yes." 

"Then let's have at it."


	27. Are We Supposed To Be The Good Guys Here?

Talia woke slowly, blinking her eyes open at the ceiling. She was in a soft bed and somewhere else entirely, it seemed. A familiar face came into view. "Anderos?" she whispered. 

"Talia!" he said. "You're awake." 

"I seem to be spending an inordinate amount of time unconscious lately," Talia commented dryly. 

"Are you alright? What did they do to you?" Anderos asked. 

"There were psykers there," Talia whispered. "And the Chancellor... Oh, I'm so confused." 

"The Chancellor?" Anderos said in surprise. "That's very peculiar. This could be more serious than I thought. Derek didn't know why you were supposed to have been captured. He was under orders from a superior." 

"Who's Derek?" Talia asked. She sat up slowly. At least she wasn't dizzy or anything. 

"A former Military commander who decided to join us," Anderos said. "I believe him, for one. It'd be a rather elaborate and bloody ruse if not, considering how many soldiers he killed to get us out of there safely." 

"Where are we?" 

"Kansai Moon Base," Anderos said. "Are you hungry?" 

"Holed up with the ninjas, are we? Yeah, food sounds good." She stood up slowly and headed for the door. They headed out toward the common area. The others were sitting around a table on the upper level. Talia and Anderos grabbed some food and joined them. 

"Talia!" said Mike. "Great to see you're okay. We were worried about you." 

"Yeah, I'm okay." She sat down and began to eat her rice with a spork. 

"What happened to you up there?" Kalli asked. "They didn't hurt you did they?" 

"No, I'm alright," Talia said. "But I have a feeling something very strange is going on here." She glanced over to the one who must be Derek and casually scanned him to determine if he was intending to betray them, and came up a negative. He seemed completely sincere. Taking comfort in that, she felt that she could sufficiently trust this group. 

"The ninjas won't let us stay any longer than absolutely necessary," Mike said. "Just to warn you. They don't want the Military coming after them." 

"Bah, if they do, I'll blow them up," Kalli said. 

Talia took a deep breath. "There were psykers on Yukon Base. They played around with me a bit and sent me to the Chancellor, who _also_ seems to be a psyker. I don't know what's going on. He said something about Anderos not having completed my training and that he could guide me. It was kind of creepy, really." 

Anderos said, startled, "He didn't try to use mind control or brainwashing on you, did he?" 

Talia said, "I don't honestly know what he was trying to do. All I remember was how unnerved I was at the entire thing and that I felt like I'd wanted to agree to any damned crazy thing they suggested to me." She sighed. "Which I suppose would be a fair indication that they were doing something of that sort, yes." 

"I'll check you over when we're back on the ship to make sure he didn't leave any residual traces in your mind," Anderos said. "That business is bad news, Talia. Was that the sort of thing he said that I hadn't taught you? I don't _do_ that sort of thing. I'm not that kind of psyker." 

"What, are we supposed to be the 'good guys' here?" Derek asked. 

"I'd like to think that, yes," Kalli muttered. "I wasn't out to destroy the Empire, just certain members of it seem out to destroy me, so I'm going to shoot back." 

"It's the Koala, Blake, that we're trying to stop here," Talia said. "He's apparently trying to create a fleet of Nova fighters with which to take over the galaxy with." 

"I don't know how the Chancellor is involved in all this," Derek said. "I didn't even know why you guys were supposed to be captured. Captain Henderson wasn't exactly very forthcoming." 

"Henderson, was it?" Talia said. "He was the one who interrogated me on Yukon Base. Furthermore, he's a psyker." 

"What!?" Derek was genuinely surprised. "How is that possible? Psykers aren't supposed to hold high ranks in the military proper." 

"Tell me about it," Talia muttered. "And the Chancellor probably isn't supposed to be a psyker either, but that hasn't stopped him. Makes me wonder how he got that position in the first place, with all his tricks." 

They finished eating. "Let's go," Mike said. "We've got a long trip ahead of us." 

The group returned to the docking area and boarded the Nova. Talia took a seat next to Anderos across from Derek, while Kalli and Mike took the pilot's and co-pilot's seats. "What route shall we take back to Transylvania?" Kalli asked. 

"Let's head to the jump hole to the Stalingrad system," Mike said. "Head down through these systems here." He indicated on the console. 

"Okay," Kalli said. She flew the ship out from the docking bay and away from Kansai Moon Base, and headed off in the direction of the jump hole. 

Talia sat back, easing the tension out of her muscles and letting down her mental shields so that Anderos could probe her more easily. If there was one person she could really trust completely, it was him. Maybe he could find if the Chancellor did anything to her and fix it. The thought of him sent shivers down her spine, his voice, his touch, it all just felt so very wrong in a way she could not explain. 

"He does seem to have messed around in here a bit," Anderos murmured. "But nothing too extensive. He didn't have you long enough to do anything too permanent. I suppose I'm lucky the Karzan Military had me and not psykers. It's harder to fix something done to a psyker than to a normal person. Don't worry, you'll be fine. Just be glad we got to you when we did." 

"All things considered," Mike said, "I don't think they expected us to manage to rescue you so quickly. If they had intended us to rescue you, after all, they'd have made it a good deal easier and wouldn't have wasted so many soldiers trying to stop us." 

"Why me, though?" Talia wondered. "Why did they want _me_ of all people?" 

Anderos said, "Perhaps they intended to program you with a false personality that would take control of your mind at an inopportune moment and betray us all, causing our plans to be overturned and destroy us." 

"Meh," Talia said. "That's crap." She sighed. "But thanks for rescuing me, guys." 

"You'd do the same for us," Mike said. He turned back to the controls "There's not really a lot of places to stop in the systems we'll be going through. But with the five of us we should be able to take shifts and head straight there without stopping if necessary." 

After some while, they came to the Stalingrad jump hole and travelled through it. "Setting course for the Tahiti jump hole now," said Kalli. 

Mike went back to rest, having Talia take the co-pilot's seat. A little bit later, Anderos went back to check on their supplies, muttering something about dinner. He came back, saying, "Well, we've got another problem. We don't have any rations." 

"What?" Kalli said. "I had this fully stocked back on Dracula Base." 

"Well, they've disappeared then," Anderos said. "Either at Yukon or at Kansai." 

"The ninjas wouldn't do that," Talia said. "Unless it was somebody else there." 

"Possible," Anderos said. "Where's the next stop?" 

"Kenya system, judging by the map," Kalli said. "Although that one looks a bit questionable." 

"Meh," Talia said. "We'll manage. Did they take _all_ our supplies?" 

"Whoever did it was fairly thorough. Didn't even leave us water," Anderos said. 

"That could be a bit bigger of a problem." 

"Purified piss, ho!" Kalli said. 

"Don't remind me," Talia muttered. 

"No worries," Kalli said. "We should be there in a few days. We'll be just fine, I'm sure. If we absolutely have to, we'll just hijack another transport or something." 

Talia snickered.


	28. Insert Lame Pun About Lions Here.

Mike piloted the Nova as they flew through the Tahiti system. The supplies problem concerned him, but it wasn't severe enough to want to risk taking a side trip into Terra for supplies. Miranda Base might be neutral, but the Mirandans would only go so far and offered little protection if the Military, bounty hunters, or what else might come after them. His main concern wasn't, however, with having to fight them off, but with whether they might refuse to deal with them at all, what with the bounty on their heads. 

Talia was a concern as well. He had nothing against killing if necessary, but after having seen the destruction of that cruiser put her down for days, he didn't want to have to put her through that again unless absolutely necessary. 

"I hope you haven't left a family behind back there," Mike murmured to Derek, in the co-pilot's seat. He spoke quietly so as not to wake the others, who were asleep in back. 

"Meh," Derek said with a grunt. "The Father commanded me to produce children, but He never mentioned that he'd take them and throw them away pointlessly." 

"I'm sorry." 

"I had eight children. Seven of them were killed pointlessly either in the Karzan Military or directly because of it. The youngest, he ran off and became a Death Dancer. I haven't heard from him in two years now and don't even know if he's still alive." 

"What's his name?" Mike asked. 

"Neil Paskins," Derek said. 

"Doesn't ring a bell," Mike said. "Not that that means much, of course. There's a lot of Death Dancers I don't know." 

"I suppose this is my chance at a new life," Derek muttered. He had changed out of his Military uniform on Kansai Moon Base and was now wearing comfortable civilian clothes. "It's been just a lovely week, hasn't it? I've been electrocuted, almost had my balls cut off, got branded a traitor, shot at, almost killed, and now I'm a criminal." 

"Heh. You seem to be taking all that pretty well, though," Mike commented. 

"Well, what else can I do? Curling up in a corner crying or something wouldn't help." He chuckled softly. "Maybe this way I'll find out what ever happened to Neil, after all. Maybe I'll be able to make a real difference instead of just pointlessly sending kids off to die." He sighed. 

Mike ignored his growling stomach as he entered into the jump hole to the Kenya system. It had been a quiet trip, really. The Military must have lost track of them completely, as nobody had attacked them the entire way. 

"The Death Dancers celebrate when one of our own dies," Mike said. "It may seem odd, but it really doesn't happen that often. You might think Death Dancers would be more prone to dying stupidly than most people, but really, if they survive their first few weeks as a Death Dancer, they're much, much less likely to die than usual. It generally takes extreme circumstances to do a Death Dancer in. So yeah. Your son might still be around and kicking just fine, or he might have eaten it in his first mission. I can check up on him when we get back to Dracula if you like." 

"That... would be appreciated, thank you." 

"I'm debating whether to take the chance of landing at Kilimanjaro Station," Mike commented. "I wasn't planning on stopping there as I was never really on good terms with the inhabitants, but I hadn't anticipated this food problem." 

"Do you think we can make it to Transylvania without it?" 

"Yes," Mike said, "but it won't be pleasant." Reluctantly, he set in a course for Kilimanjaro Station. After some while, they came to the station and docked. "Let's hope the natives are friendly." He checked his side arms and headed for the hatch. 

Just as he'd suspected, a group of hungry Lions was outside and ready to pounce. Whipping out his blaster, he shot and stunned three of them before they scattered. They didn't go far, though, just behind the nearest cover. Apparently they weren't going to get any real help here. Mike sighed and raised the setting on his blaster and began roasting one of the bodies. 

"What's going on out there?" asked Kalli. 

"Would you like your meat rare or well-done?" he asked. 

"Um," Kalli said. "Well-done. I suppose that can't be any worse than space rations." 

Derek asked, "Is it considered cannibalism if you eat a sentient member of a different species?" 

"Nah," Mike said. He grabbed the corpse and hauled it into the ship, since everyone was awake again anyway, and secured the hatch shut again. "Kalli, take us out again toward the London system. I'll make lunch." As Kalli did that, he prepared the meat and tossed the waste into the recycling chute, and they ate. 

"A little tough," Kalli said. "Although better than space rations, I must say." 

"That should tide us over to Transylvania easy," Mike said brightly. 

"Why did they attack us, anyway?" Kalli wondered. 

"They're Predators, most likely," Mike explained. "They attack space travellers just to eat their flesh. Hence why I was so wary about landing here. Sometimes they'll allow visitors, if they're in a good mood and aren't hungry or anything. But Kenya is really Lion space, no doubt about it. Other parts of the galaxy have Bears, Wolves, or Tigers, who do the same. For the most part, they know better than to bother Death Dancers unless they're desparate." 

"So they wanted to eat us, but we ate them instead?" Kalli said. "Irony is kind of tasty, isn't it." 

Mike put the leftovers into storage as they went on to the London system. Once in the London system, they finally were attacked by the Karzan Military. The fought off the small fighter patrol without much trouble and continued on to the jump hole to the Lorres system. 

"Looks like the patrols are finally on to us," Mike said. "Aside from utter lack of common sense to attack us." 

They passed a group of junkers cleaning up space debris, who did not bother them. Mike left them alone. He wished that the junkers were more helpful sometimes, but at least they kept their mouths shut for the most part. They didn't butt into anything that wasn't their business. Along the way, they ate some more Lion meat. 

Then, after blowing up a few more patrols, they wearily reached the Lorres system. "Shall we stop for space rations and cramped bunks or just keep going?" Mike asked. 

"Let's keep going," Kalli said. "We're not far now." 

"We'll get there tomorrow, now that we're securely in pirate space," Mike said. 

They finished up the last of the Lion on the way to the Transylvania jump hole. They passed through there without more than a passing glimpse at other pirate vessels and arrived in Transylvania, and made for the Dracula Nebula. Along the way, he spotted a rather familiar freighter. 

"Jake! Good to see you. How's the construction project going?" 

"Everything's going great here," Jake said. "How'd the rescue mission go? Where's your ship?" 

"We had a few snags along the way, but we got everything we came for, and then some," Mike replied. "We'll talk more on Dracula. There's some interesting and unexpected developments that have come up." 

"I can't wait to hear it," Jake said.


	29. Mike Gives a History Lesson.

They landed the Nova at Dracula Base in the Transylvania system and disembarked from the ship for a meeting over some real food in the rec hall. Kalli had heard that Dracula Base was pretty much self-sufficient and made most of its own food, hence the availability of tasty meals that weren't readily available on most pirate bases. Certainly, food could be captured and transported in from elsewhere, but storage was always a problem on the asteroid bases. They didn't really have enough space available to store a large variety of bulky foods when they could survive off compact rations. 

There was a large kettle of hot vegetable soup to one side of the room kept warm for anyone around who was hungry, and a stack of bowls and sporks beside it. Kalli gratefully helped herself to a bowl. 

"Greetings," said Warren as they entered the rec hall. "It is good that you have returned successful in your mission." 

"Great to be back, too," Mike said. "We've got some business to discuss. Over food." 

"I will share with you my carrots if you so desire." 

"Thanks," Talia said. "I'm feeling slightly vegetarian-inclined lately." 

Jimmy Dane came up to them. "There you are. You should see this fleet. It's beautiful! I want a snazzy new Nova for myself." 

"After we eat," Mike said. He sat down with a bowl of hot vegetable soup. "Jake, Warren, Jimmy, this is Anderos Velarh and Derek Paskins. Anderos and Derek, these are Jacob Walker, James Dane, Warren Wright. Great, we're all friends now? Let's eat." 

They sat down around the long table and began to eat heartily. "So what's this interesting business you said has come up?" Jake asked. 

"It seems that the Chancellor is a psyker," Anderos said. "And appears to have some sort of agenda that we are as yet uncertain of the details of." 

"They made quite an effort at preventing us from leaving the place," Kalli said. "Someone even took our supplies to give us further trouble. I doubt we would have made it without the Nova. We had to blast our way out of the docking bay doors, since they weren't polite to open them for us." 

"And that was _after_ we defeated a small armored infantry division," Derek commented dryly. "When four guys can fight off a hundred guys and win, you know the Military _sucks_." 

"Yes, I imagine you know exactly how much they suck, don't you," Mike said with a smirk. "Welcome to the other side. I'm not really sure if it's the dark side or the light side or whatever, though." 

"Chocolate side," Kalli said, holding aloft a cookie. 

"Yes," Mike drawled. "We're dark and sweet and just melt in your mouth." 

Jake giggled. "Sounds like you had a good time with your suicidal insanity. Anything else interesting happen?" 

They kindly filled the others in on any other interesting details of their trip, up to and including their lunch of roast Lion. Then they went off to sleep and various other distractions which do not need elaboration at this time. 

Mike said to Kalli, "Congratulations. You've survived your first few weeks as a Death Dancer. You've probably got a long and interesting life ahead of you now." He winked. 

"Heh," Kalli said. "I've completely lost track of time. In some ways it feels like it was yesterday, and in others it's like an eternity ago." 

"They say there is no time in space," Mike said. "When you're measuring time between your last meal and your next, from one base that might let you land to another... heh. To be sure, I've been hunted by the Military and the bounty hunters before. Generally I've managed to stay on good enough terms that I can land on places like Tahiti and such. Beautiful place, we ought to go there sometime. If we have to take it over ourselves." 

Kalli chuckled softly. "Does the killing ever really end?" 

Mike shrugged. "In a way, the Death Dancers are the opposite of the Primos. The Primos bring life, and we bring death. An endless cycle, and a necessary one for the survival and well-being of the universe. The Primos have already overrun their own planets and are trying to spread to other worlds, but where else is there for them to go? They head to the fringe worlds and try to take over places like Hamilton, or to terraform planets to make new places for them to live or grow food, like what they did on Mars and what they're trying to do on planet Harris." 

"So it's a like a food chain, really," Kalli said. "With the predators keeping the prey population in check?" 

"In a way," Mike said. "But at this point, you could kill all the Primos you want until you drop of old age, and will never put a dent in their population. It's getting out of hand. The Empire is on the verge of collapse from the inside out, without any help from us, because of the way the Primo religion is consuming the galaxy." 

"I never really thought of it that way," Kalli said. "Wow. I figured that any religion that based itself around fertility would have some check or balance to stop it from getting out of control, or it would have collapsed by now." 

"Like Derek was saying earlier, most of the Primo children these days are having to join the Military out of necessity and usually dying quickly," Mike went on. "A lot of them are leaving the Primo planets and becoming pirates, and usually celibate or homosexual. Gaytopia and Lesbia are thriving due to homosexuality being outlawed on Primo planets. It's surprising the number of people who were raised Primo who reach the age of thirty who are no longer Primos." 

"How did it ever get started?" Kalli asked. "Didn't they stop to consider the long-term problems it might have?" 

"Possibly," Mike said. "It started, obviously, on planet Primus, the first Terran colony. I would imagine that the original colony was only a few hundred or a few thousand people, so producing as many children as possibly would have only been a good thing at the time. They just stuck with it far longer than was reasonably necessary, I think." 

"So how did the Death Dancers get started, then?" Kalli wondered. "You said once that they originated from Primos." 

Mike nodded. "It started with the Rabbits." 

"The Rabbits?" 

"Yep. The first Death Dancers were killer bunnies. You see, the Rabbits on planet Sydney had decided to adopt the Primo religion. That turned out to be a bad idea, which they realized rather quickly. The excess Rabbits decided to form the Dancers on the Edge of Death and vowed to produce no more children. Most Death Dancer Rabbits are celibate, or at least gay." 

"So there's a bunch of gay bunnies in the Death Dancers." 

Mike laughed. "Yeah, something like that." 

"And Jake--" 

"--is probably off in a gay orgy about now." 

"Thought so."


	30. Blow Shit Up.

"Hey, Derek," Mike said. "I did some checking up on that son of yours, Neil? He's still alive. He was last seen in the Tasmania system." 

"Really?" Derek said, brightening. "Wow..." 

An alarm sounded throughout the base. "What's going on?" Mike said. "Someone's come through the gate?" He rushed to the operations room. 

"Mike!" said some random nameless guy in the operations room. "We've got a problem here. A rather big one." 

"What's going on?" Mike demanded. 

"A small fleet just came through the jump gate," he said. "A battleship, three cruisers, and several fighter wings." 

"Fuck!" 

"ETA two hours," the guy said. "I'm sending the call to evacuate." 

"There's hundreds of thousands of people on this base!" Mike said. "How many Novas do we have finished?" 

"Just three," he replied. 

"I'll get my best pilots," Mike said. "We'll try to defeat this fleet, or at the very least, hold them off long enough for you guys to get out of here." 

"We'll meet you in Siberia, if you make it," the guy said. 

Mike raced out of the operations room toward the docking area. Kalli said, "What's going on?" 

"There's a fleet coming. Get to your ship. Warren! Jimmy! You take the other two Novas. Derek, feel like being my co-pilot?" 

"Sure thing," Derek said. They climbed into the Novas. 

"Good luck out there," Jake said. He was piling people into his freighter to get away from the station. 

The four Novas launched, along with several wings of fighters. Killer bunnies in Jackrabbits, pirates in Ravens, fringe-worlders in Griffons, even a few Sabres, Barracudas, and Sharks. 

"Nova leader to all wingmen, set an intercept course for the Karzan fleet," Mike said over the comm. They flew off toward the fleet. He checked on who all was with him. "When we engage the enemy, I want the Ravens and Griffons to keep their fighters off our backs. The rest of you, try to take down those cruisers. Novas, we need to try to disable that battleship." 

"Understood," came the reply. Mike switched off the comm. 

"I didn't think they'd be bold enough to send a fleet in here," Derek said. "Transylvania was always considered little more than a nuisance and best avoided." 

"Looks like we've been moved up a few pegs on their priorities," Mike commented. "You do realize this is most likely a suicide mission." 

Derek nodded. "It rather intrigues me, really. That people would _willingly_ go into a situation in which they may well die, for the hope that others might live." 

Mike smiled faintly. "We're dancing on the edge of death today." 

They engaged the enemy at the edge of the Dracula Cloud. The fighters came into range first, breaking off from the fleet and attacking them. The Novas stayed to blow up a few of them before breaking away from the battle to engage the battleship. It was a massive construction, easily five kilometers long, and bristling with weaponry. The name _Napoleon_ was painted in yellow across its hull. The battleship began firing several powerful shots from its enormous weapons at the Novas. 

"Don't let the battleship hit you!" Mike urged over the comm. 

"I'll keep that in mind," Kalli said dryly. 

"Try to knock out the weapons," Mike said. 

The four Novas closed in on the battleship, focusing fire on its massive weapons. Any normal fighter would not have been able to make a dent in a ship this powerful, but the Novas were able to cut into and disable a number of the ship's weapons. It was tough dodging the incoming bolts so close, though. 

"I'm hit!" screamed Jimmy. 

"Pull back, Jimmy," Mike said. 

"I don't think I can make it," Jimmy said. "The ship's coming apart! I've lost control of the ship." Jimmy's Nova hurtled past the battleship and was on a collision course for one of the cruisers. "Damn you Military bastards!" There was a fiery explosion as the Nova impacted on the cruiser, and then a second one moments later as the cruiser itself exploded. 

"Goodbye, Jimmy," Mike murmured quietly as he resumed his attacks on the battleship. As the battle wore on, they grew dangerously closer and closer to the station. "Kalli! Warren! Focus fire on the battleship's engines!" 

"Roger," said Kalli. The three remaining Novas flew toward the back of the ship. With many of the weapons taken out the might be able to do this without getting themselves killed. A ship this size needed a massive reactor to power it, and if they managed to penetrate it, it would make a rather nice explosion. 

A quick glance at the scanners revealed that a lot of fighters had been destroyed on both sides. The remaining pirate fighters were busy keeping the cruisers occupied. The battleship's reactor was protected by thick, heavy materials. It would take a concentrated effort from the three Novas to get through it. Dodging occasional shots from the battleship or the cruisers, the three of them kept firing at the ship's reactor, slowly wearing away its shielding. And then... 

"Nova leader to all wings," Mike shouted over the comm. "Break off attack! Flee the area!" 

The fighters turned away from the battle and set course straight away from the _Napoleon_ as fast as they could go. Then behind them, there was a bright flash of light as the battleship's reactor went critical and exploded. The rest of the ship was ripped apart quickly under the force, and even the cruisers were too close to escape, particularly having already taken damage from the fighters, and they too were destroyed. Some of the fighters that were too slow or too badly damaged to get out of the way didn't make it far enough away to escape the blast. 

It was, however, too close to Dracula Base. The station took heavy damage from the explosion and flying debris, and was ripped apart. Sections of the base were torn from the main part, although it looked as though the main reactor managed to stay intact, as the primary section of Dracula Base did not actually explode. There might be hope for a recovery effort at a later point. 

"I hope they got out alright," Mike said quietly. He turned back to the comm. "Nova leader to all wings, set a course for the Siberia jump hole. Mission... accomplished."


	31. What Is Bill Doing Here?

Jake brought in his freighter to land on the frozen world of Siberia and began to offload the passengers. Siberia was a habitable world that was in the middle of an ice age, but the areas around the equator were reasonable habitable for humans. The better part of it was that there weren't any jump gates in the Siberia system, so the should be safe here. There was no way anything the size of a battleship or even a cruiser could safely navigate a jump hole. 

They didn't have much of a base out here, though. It was pretty remote and didn't have any real resources, so all they had was a small outpost, nothing that could handle the half a million people that would be coming from Dracula. If they all made it out at least. He hoped Warren made it. 

"I think we're going to end up short on supplies here," Bill said. 

"Bill! What are you doing here? I thought you worked at Cryces Base." 

"I do," Bill said. "But I'm one of the few minor characters with a name still alive, and the Author is feeling lazy right now." 

"Oh, okay. But she'd better well edit this crap later. That, and that random guy in the last chapter, too. Or was that you, too?" Jake asked. 

"I have no idea. Can we get back to the plot, please?" Bill asked. 

"Yeah, I suppose." 

"We're going to be short on supplies here," Bill said. "We may have to bring in some from the fringe worlds." 

Jake nodded. "We can bring in some food from Balzac, I suppose. They grow a good amount of food. Heh. Maybe Kalli can get us a discount or something. If she survives," he added ruefully. "Ah, she'll be fine. Nothing can kill those bloody Death Dancers. Nothing short of a battleship, three cruisers, and several wings of fighters, at least. Bloody Kalli. Bloody Mike. Bloody Warren. Come back alive, please." Jake sighed. 

"Much as I hate to interrupt your introspectful soliloquies," Bill said, "we have work to do here." 

"Right," Jake said. With a sigh, he got to work helping unload the supplies from some of the freighters who were actually stocked with supplies when the evacuation was sounded. 

They were lucky on the luminite, however. Although some of the ships in progress hadn't been able to be removed from the station in time, most of the luminite itself was extracted from the station safely. They didn't really have the facilities on Siberia yet to build the Novas, but they weren't about to let that slow them down. 

"No worries," said one of the engineers. "We're used to working under insane deadlines under adverse conditions! Just bring us some beer and we'll be happy." 

"If you say so," Jake said with a smirk. 

Freighters continued to arrive with passengers and supplies through the jump hole. "There was this huge explosion behind us!" they said. "I don't know if anyone else is going to make it out of that. I don't know if any of the fighters got away in time." 

"Warren," Jake whispered. "If you got yourself killed, I'm going to... not take up necrophilia." 

Not long afterward, though, the remaining fighters came and landed on Siberia. Jake noticed that only three of the four Novas had returned intact and prayed that Warren wasn't the one who was killed. The hatches opened, and Kalli, Mike, and Warren climbed out, and their co-pilots. Jake smiled broadly and went over to hug the fluffy bunny. 

"Warren! It's good to see you made it out of there alive." 

"I am pleased at my continued survival for the success of our mission," Warren said. "Thusly the battleship _Napoleon_ was obliterated from within by the penetration of our weapons through the shields protecting its reactor core." 

"Did everyone get out alright?" Mike asked. 

"We're doing a roll call now," Bill said. "From the looks of things, at least eighty percent managed to get out of Dracula Base in time, however. By the way, I need to be replaced by a character who actually has a point in being here, please." 

"Alright. I suppose it's the best we could hope for," Mike said. 

"We got most of the luminite out, though," Jake said. 

"Great," Mike said. "Hopefully we'll be able to finish building the fleet here." 

"We're short on supplies, though," Bill said. "Somebody may need to go bring in food from Balzac or somewhere." 

"What fun," Kalli murmured. "Guess I'm going home after all, then." 

"You don't suppose the Military will bother us out there, do you? It's got a jump gate, after all," Jake said. 

"Nah," Kalli said. "They shouldn't at least. They never much went out that far before." 

"Let's see about getting some freighters out there, then" Jake said. 

"Kalli, you should escort them to Balzac," Mike said. "Me and Warren should stay here to protect the planet in case the Empire decides to send any wings of fighters through the jump holes." 

Kalli and Jake looked disappointed. "Is that really necessary?" Jake asked. 

"We've got things to take care of here," Mike said. "There will be time enough for fun later. This is no game, no joyride, no little smuggling trip. We've got a war on our hands here. It's a matter of life and death." 

"Let's get ready to go, then," Kalli said with a sigh. 

Jake went and prepared his freighter for flight and notified several other freighter pilots of the trip they were going to make. They'd barely had a moment to rest before they were off again, having to jump on space rations on the way to the jump hole. A small squadron of Ravens went along in addition to the Novas, three of them, but most of them remained at Siberia to protect the planet. 

"Didn't think I'd be heading back home anytime soon," Kalli said over the comm. 

"Think of it as a vacation," Jake said. "The Mother knows we need one." 

"My idea of a vacation tends to involve eating something other than space rations and not being hounded by the Karzan Military," Kalli said, chuckling. 

"Well, at least people are less likely to shoot at me out here," Jake said. "Bloody Empire. I can't believe they'd send a _fleet_ into Transylvania. That's insane." 

"We _did_ steal a transport full of valuable goods, blow up one of their cruisers, and rescue one or two of their prisoners, and blow a hole in the side of one of their stations." 

"Yeah, and I imagine they're not going to be too pleased when they find out we blew up one of their battleships, three cruisers, and several wings of fighters, either," Jake commented. "How did we get into this situation, anyway? I was perfectly happy just smuggling drugs all over the place." 

"And now we're in the thick of it. It's a wild ride." 

"Crazy Death Dancers," Jake muttered.


	32. The Author Argues With Her Characters.

Kalli piloted her Nova through the Kyber system, keeping an eye on the long range sensors and watching over the eight freighters that were her charge. It was a pity they couldn't just get their food straight from Kyber, as it was closer. The system was saturated with the mineral rezanite which made any food grown there unsafe for normal consumption. Unless they really wanted hallucinations and such, at least. 

Her co-pilot was pretty quiet. She was a shy girl maybe two or three years younger than herself by the name of Melody Watson. Kalli wished that the girl would talk more. The trip was boring enough as it was. At least she could shoot straight if nothing else. Kalli already missed Mike. 

"So," Kalli said casually to the girl next to her. "Where you from, anyway?" 

"Don't bother developing my character, I'm just going to die in the next chapter anyway." 

"Oh come on," Kalli said. "We already had enough out of character discussion in the last chapter. Besides, why do you think you'll die so badly? You have a name, after all." 

"Because the Author seems to be inclined to killing off all the unimportant named characters for some reason. She's getting sadistic like that." 

"Bah, nonsense. Derek's still alive, after all." 

"It's only a matter of time!" Melody said. "Besides, I think she just likes torturing him. After all, she did electrocute him, almost cut off his balls, etc etc etc." 

Kalli sighed. "So much for the plot. Hey, Author woman, can we please get this stupid story back on track already? Whatever happened to the plot? Please? Plot is good. Plot is great." 

"Haven't you blown up enough things for a few chapters?" the Author inserted. "I mean, you did just blow up a battleship, three cruisers, several wings of fighters, and a space station. What more do you want?" 

"Oh, hell with it, how about some nice old character development, then?" Kalli said. "Character development is good, too." 

"That's what I was _trying_ to do in the first place," the Author said. "And then that silly Melody first insisted on existing--" 

"Hey!" Melody retorted. 

"--and then insisted on having a name, and whatever. What if I don't feel like randomly developing yet another character that wasn't even supposed to exist midway through the novel?" 

"It's not quite midway yet," Kalli said. 

"Don't nitpick. I don't feel like adding yet another bloody character. Die die die Melody what was your last name again?" 

"Er. Watson. And I don't want to die. Please." 

"Fine," the Author sighed. "I'm just going to have to edit this all out later because it's really stupid and it's getting to annoy me and I've no idea where the stupid story is going and the plot makes... well, considerably more sense than my last year's novel but still. I was trying to write a serious story here and you bunch of jokers can't stay serious for five bloody minutes. Argh." 

"Don't call _me_ a joker," Kalli said. "You're the one arguing with a fictional character, after all." 

"Two fictional characters. I'm still here." 

"Why are you even writing this, anyway?" Kalli asked. 

"Because it's November and that's what people do in November," the Author retorted snidely. 

"No, I mean, why are you typing up an argument with your characters in the first place?" 

"Because um... the plot... fell down... or something. You blew up the plot! Damnit." 

"You know, if you spelled that 'damn it' instead, it would count for two words instead of one," Kalli pointed out. 

"Shut up," the Author said. "Or I'll kill you off or something." 

"Hey, you can't kill me, I'm the main character!" Kalli cried. 

"You wanna bet?" 

"Um. No," Kalli said sheepishly. 

"Good," the Author said. "Now, get going and get to Balzac already." 

"But I don't want to go to Balzac." 

"Too bad. You're going there anyway. We can meet your family or something and introduce more pointless characters to irritate me with. At least it's not as bad as Robert Jordan yet. Characters die occasionally and considerably more often than they get introduced, seeing as I've killed over a million people in this damned novel already and only like twenty characters thus far have even had names." 

"Are you going to let us get on with whatever the plot is supposed to be, or just sit there ranting?" 

"I suppose I'll just rant for the rest of this chapter seeing as I'm already going to have to delete it all later anyway. This is stupid. Why would I even be counting these words? Words! Words! Oh, so many words." 

"Well, you put yourself through this every year, it's not my fault," Kalli said. 

"Hey, it was easy last year." 

"Last year's novel also made no sense whatsoever and involved the characters running off to do Shazmar-knows-what for no apparent reason all for the point of one ugly guy trying to get laid." 

"Whatever. I don't care," the Author said. "It was fun. Kind of. Oh hell, this is going to turn into a good novel or something eventually, just need to edit it and crap first, then it'll be good. Just have to edit it to make some sense and get out all the inconsistancies that I've probably cropped up and the really stupid things and possibly insert some sex scenes..." 

"Yay sex scenes!" 

"Weren't you supposed to be a prude?" 

"I don't feel like being a prude," Kalli said. "Being a slut is so much more fun." 

"And you're _going_ to feel guilty about killing all those people sooner or later, damnit. Damnit. You're not supposed to be a bloodthirsty mass-murderer after all. Sheesh. Where do you get off on this kick, anyway? Bah. Whatever. Whatever, I say!" 

"Why do you keep going back and correctin all your stupid typos anyway?" Kalli asked. "It's not like you can use the shift key properly anyway." 

"Bah, shut up already. I declare this chapter hereby over. Can we try to stay on track next chapter please?" 

"Fine," Kalli said. "If you insist. Just get rid of Melody please. I don't want a co-pilot after all." 

"Great," the Author said. "Bye, Melody." 

"Hey! Wait!" Melody cried in protest, but it was too late. With a wave of an ethereal hand, Melody vanished in a puff of logic. 

"Now, back to the plot."


	33. Meanwhile, Over There...

Empress Alisa scowled at the Chancellor. "You have spent billions on this project already, and what do you have to show for it?" The fourteen-year-old El'dari girl stood straight and tall as always, struggling for every inch. 

"Your Highness, the pirates have proven more troublesome than we had anticipated," the Chancellor protested. 

"Your excuses are not befitting," Alisa said. "There was absolutely no reason why we should have lost a battleship there. Are these pirates truly that skilled, or was it merely poor planning on your part?" 

"They stole a prototype for a super-fighter with a luminite core," the Chancellor said. "Without that, they would not have been able to succeed. Once we obtain the luminite for ourselves, they will not be able to withstand our power." 

"And how, precisely, do you propose that we ensure the transport arrive safely in Toronto?" Alisa said. "As you recall what happened with the last one." 

"I propose stationing battleships in the Rath system, and all along the route back toward Toronto." 

"That would require moving a good deal of protection out of important areas," Alisa replied. "And to what point? If they can destroy a _battleship_ , how do you expect that to help any?" 

"Your Highness, with all due respect, you cannot simply allow this pirate scum to have the run of the galaxy," the Chancellor said. "A direct attack on a sufficiently well-defended system would be foolhardy for them. 

Alisa sighed. "Very well. I will allow three battleships and as many cruisers as you wish to be detached to the Rath system, but no more." 

"Many thanks, Your Highness." The Chancellor bowed. "I promise, we will bring in the luminite safely, and with that, we shall crush these pirates once and for all." 

"See to it," the Empress said. "I expect to see results this time." 

The Chancellor bowed and left the chamber, leaving Empress Alisa alone with her retainers and handmaids. She strode to the balcony to look over the city of Ottawa. Ships zipped back and forth through the skies in the Toronto night. 

She had to wonder how much of the issue was inflated for the sake of making the pirates look bad. Reports indicated that they had killed a hundred and fifty soldiers in their raid on Yukon Base, and yet they had only freed one prisoner from there. Furthermore, all the deaths had occurred in and near the docking bay. She could not believe the serious breach of common sense that had prompted them to try a direct assault on a secure tactical position. The operations room had reported that they had attempted to seal the door closed to trap the pirates inside, but that someone had blasted the door panel. 

Empress Alisa was extremely frustrated at the apparent ineptitude of the Military. The pirates were more skilled, more experienced, and better equipped, and thus nearly every confrontation the pirates had with the Military, the pirates won. Why hadn't they taken over yet? Clearly because they either hadn't tried, or didn't want to. Well, to be sure, they only had the design for the Nova for a short time, so they may not have had the resources to gain a clearly upper hand yet. Thus, it was only a matter of time before the pirates took over. 

The Death Dancers were another matter. More and more of them were suddenly appearing in the pirates' ranks, where they had once been the Empire's own hand, their truly skilled fighters to send in when things were looking grim. Perhaps, however, with so many Death Dancers on the pirates' side, a few more would not be noticed. Perhaps some of the Dancers of Death still in Toronto remained loyal to her. 

"Sibyl," she said to one of her servants. "Bring me Marina Shea." 

"At once, Your Highness." The woman turned and darted out of the palace. 

Yes, Alisa thought to herself. If she could get loyal agents into the pirates' ranks, perhaps she could get more accurate information about their plans and intentions. Unlike the Chancellor, she wasn't so keen on simply destroying them without finding out what they had in mind. By all reports, their last attempt at destroying them had been a distraction at best and an abject failure at worst. 

"You wished to see me, Your Highness?" 

Alisa turned to face the Death Dancer. Marina was a thin woman in her mid-twenties, her dark hair swept back in a ponytail, wearing a tight outfit with the Death Dancer insignia on the breast. Alisa smiled a little. "Yes, Marina. I have a mission for you. If you're still loyal to me, at least." 

"Always and forever," Marina said. "I will follow your word and none other." 

"Very well," Alisa said. "I wish you to locate the pirates who formerly occupied the Transylvania system and infiltrate their ranks." 

"You're asking me to spy on them?" 

Alisa shook her head. "Not spy, precisely. I merely wish to know what their intentions toward the Empire are. If they intend the destruction of the Empire, I cannot allow that. However, if they intend nothing beyond their own survival, I see no reason to continue this business." 

Marina nodded. "Understood, Your Highness. I shall set off at once. Do you wish my wingmen to travel with me?" 

"Take along anyone you so desire to and trust enough on this mission," Alisa said. "Good luck." 

"As you wish, Your Highness." Marina bowed and departed from the chamber. 

Alisa smiled to herself. She always did prefer giving orders without having to work through the Chancellor. She might be looked down upon for her age, she feared, on occasion, but judging by the serious lack of common sense in many of those older and supposedly wiser than her, she could not imagine how it could be any sort of disadvantage. She prefered to look at straightforward and peaceful solutions to problems, unlike the Chancellor, who was always gearing up to fight someone or another. Alisa would prefer not to have to fight anyone at all, if it was at all possible or feasable.


	34. Chapter 32, Take Two.

Kalli piloted her Nova through the Kyber system, keeping an eye on the long range sensors and watching over the eight freighters that were her charge. It was a pity they couldn't just get their food straight from Kyber, as it was closer. The system was saturated with the mineral rezanite which made any food grown there unsafe for normal consumption. Unless they really wanted hallucinations and such, at least. 

She almost wished she had a co-pilot so that she could sleep without worrying so much about being attacked, and missed Mike. At least she had Jake and the other pilots to talk with. 

After many long hours of travelling, they arrived in the Balzac system and approached the planet. A squadron of Griffons approached them. 

"Unknown ships, please identify yourselves," said the patrol over the comm. 

"This is Kalli May, escorting freighters to planet Balzac to purchase food supplies." She chuckled softly. "Hello, Uncle." 

"Kalli? Great to see you again. _Nice_ ship you've got there. Come land, we'll escort you the rest of the way." 

Kalli grinned to herself and followed her uncle back to planet Balzac. The freighters followed, and they came in and landed on the planet at its one real landing platform. It was a familiar sight she had seen many, many times during her training. In a way, it was good to be home again. One last refuge of stability in the middle of a rapidly changing world. 

Kalli's parents were there to meet them at the landing platform. Her uncle must have sent off a message on the way there. Barbara and Leonard May didn't look particularly pleased, for some reason. Kalli climbed out of her Nova to see what was up. 

"What is this new scum you've taken up with?" her mother said. "And a Death Dancer now, too? Are you _trying_ to get yourself killed? Who are these people?" Leonard silently nodded in agreement at her side. 

"It's nice to see you again, too, Mom," Kalli said with a smirk. "Allow me to introduce you to my friend, Jacob Walker. Jake, my parents, Barbara and Leonard May." 

"Nice to meet you," Jake said with a smile. 

"When was the last time you bathed?" Barb scolded. "You smell like you've been hanging out with filthy pirates and flying around holed up in a little spaceship for weeks!" 

Her uncle approached from his Griffon, laughing. "Oh, do relax, Barb. She's a big girl now. She can take care of herself." 

Liam May was a burly man, the older of two brothers. Barb shook her finger at him too. "Don't you encourage her. She should be home and raising a family, not gallavanting about the galaxy with these scoundrels!" 

"Ah, she's doing real work here, escorting freighters come for supplies," Liam said. 

"And we are _certainly_ not supplying these _pirates_ with _anything_ ," Barb said emphatically. She turned on her headed away, dragging Len with her. 

"Nice folks," Jake said once they were out of earshot. 

Liam laughed and said, "Don't pay any attention to them. I'll arrange the supplies. This way." 

Jake and Kalli followed him off to a building on the side of the landing platform. "I don't think I caught your name, sir." 

"I'm Liam May," her uncle said. "I saw you came through the Kyber jump hole and not the jump gate to Tau." 

"Yep," Jake said. "We're holed up in Siberia now." 

"Siberia? Damn, now I see why you need supplies so badly." He opened the door and went up to the desk where there was a young woman working with a port computer terminal. "Here, Maggie here will get it all arranged." 

Jake went up to the desk and told Maggie what amounts of what supplies they needed, and passed over some credits. Then they headed out to get the anti-gravity lifters and haul over the crates from the warehouses adjacent to the landing platform. 

"So what's it like, being a Death Dancer?" Liam asked. 

"It's great," Kalli said. "A lot of fun, really. Though I did have to learn how to pilot a ship in combat rather quickly." 

"Yeah, speaking of ships, where did you get that beauty outside?" 

"Oh, that?" Kalli said. "I stole it from a neurotic Koala who wants to take over the galaxy." 

Liam laughed heartily. "That's as good an answer as any. Now, Jake, boy, I'm not gonna ask if you fellas are really pirates or rebels or whatnot, so don't tell me. I don't wanna know. I might've been happy to jump on it and join you back in the day, but I'm too old for that now. If they come and ask me I can tell 'em, sorry, I didn't know. But I doubt anyone will bother coming out here, after all. It's the middle of nowhere, after all, and they need our food. And we don't allow no Primos to settle on this here planet, after all." 

The three of them, the ship pilots, and some other workers at the Balzac spaceport worked to load up the ships with the needed supplies. "I do wish my parents would lighten up a bit, though," Kalli said. 

"Yeah, Lenny always was caught up with that silly girl. Barb's a slave driver I tell you. Not one word he can say against her," Liam said. "She'd not be happy unless you were doing exactly what she thought you were supposed to be doing. But no, that's not the way it should be done. A person's gotta follow their heart and do what they think is right, not what their parents or anyone else tells them is right." 

They finished loading up the ships after some while. "Thanks for the help, Uncle Liam." 

"Anytime, Kalli," Liam said. "And if you folks need anything else, you know where to come. We've got plenty here. Rather sell to you than the bloody Primos, at any rate. Take care, Kalli. Have fun." 

"Goodbye, Uncle." She hugged him and climbed back into her Nova, and they were off again.


	35. In Your Pocket.

Planet Harris was a dry, cold planet that was barely habitable right now. It was the location of one of the Karzan Empire's large-scale terraforming operations, but there were never really many people around but for some scientists and random passersby. Travellers on slow transports frequently stopped at Harris for a place to rest on a long journey. There were some who stayed temporarily, but the planet could not yet support a permanent settlement. 

Donovan's people were set up in the mountains of Harris constructing a fleet of Nova fighters. They still lacked the luminite to power them, however, but the ships would be ready to go once they obtained that necessary component. 

"How are we supposed to get the luminite to power the Novas?" asked Pete, one of the guys involved on the project. 

"The Rath system is adjacent to Tau," said Richard Penner. "The luminite will need to be obtained from there." 

"Reports indicate they've moved _three_ battleships into the system," Pete said. "What the buttsex are we supposed to do, sneak it our under their noses? In our pockets perhaps?" 

Richard thought for a moment. "Perhaps we may accomplish something very much like that." 

"Oh no, you're not getting another one of those crazy ideas are you?" Pete said. "You are _not_ using me as a test subject again. Remember what happened last time?" 

"I assure you, if this project turns your skin blue, it will probably kill you this time as well." 

"Oh, that's real reassuring, thanks," Pete said dryly. "So what's this brilliant idea of yours?" 

"The gravitational flux kinetic resonance warp displacement field generator--" 

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on a minute!" Pete said. "In English, please." 

Richard smirked. "I believe I can create a storage device similar to that technology which is used for jump gates. It would, theoretically, allow transporting large quantities of materials in a very small space. Thusly, you would be able to sneak it out in your pocket, so to speak." 

"Okay, great," Pete said. "I suppose getting in there in the first place would be the next problem once you got that working, right?" 

"That would be your job, not mine," Richard smiled. "I must speak with Lord Blake and then begin work on this project immediately." 

Richard Penner spent several days on the project which Pete began to dub the "bag of holding". Finally, he completed what he claimed to be a functional prototype. 

"With the gravitational effects of the device being much lesser than the effects of a normal sized wormhole, I believe it should be safe to use," Richard said. He opened the miniature gate and dropped a rock in. 

"Excellent," Donovan said. "You there. Bob. You help test it." 

"Okay..." Bob said nervously. 

"Please reach into the device and retrieve the rock, Bob," Richard said. 

Bob cautiously went over to the tiny gate, as if afraid it were going to bite him, and slowly reached inside. However, once his hand was inside the device, it began to pull him in. Bob screamed as he tried to hold onto something, but the force was too much for him to resist and he was sucked in. 

Richard stood there calmly, taking notes. "Yes, I believe there are still some adjustments and safety precautions I must implement into the device, but it should work properly shortly." 

"See to it," Donovan said, and walked off. 

"You ain't getting me to stick my hand in there," said Pete. "Not until you've got a better idea that I'm not going to be eaten alive by it." 

"I assure you, once my modifications are complete, it will be quite safe for human use," Richard said. 

Richard spent several more days perfecting the design and making it safe to use without killing anyone else. Finally, he came up with one that worked properly. 

"Great," Pete said. "Now can I go on this suicide mission to steal the ore?" 

"Do so," Donovan said. "Do return in one piece as well, if at all possible. Or at least bring back the luminite." 

"Righto, m'lord Koala bear," Pete said. 

"Koalas are not bears," Donovan said. 

"Whatever," Pete said with a shrug. He took the bag of holding and hopped into his Griffon, and flew off toward the jump gate to the Rath system. 

As he approached the asteroid field, the battleship _Attila_ , stationed at the edge of the field, hailed him. "Fringe world ship, please state your purpose and identification." 

"This is Peter Bush, bringing supplies from Balzac to the Glittergold Mining Facility." 

"Identity verified. Please proceed." 

Pete piloted his Griffon through the sparkling asteroid field. It had so been named because the asteroids visibly glittered golden in the light of Rath's sun, but there was little to no actual gold in the field. He went in and docked at the mining base. 

"Food rations from Balzac," he said to the guy working in the docking bay. 

"You wanna help with this and get on your way faster?" the guy asked. 

Pete shook his head, "Sorry, I've had a long day, I think I'll be staying here tonight and move out in the morning." 

"If you insist," he said. "Please keep away from the restricted areas of the station, thanks." 

"Will do," Pete said. He headed off out of the docking bay. Pete promptly began to nonchalantly search for the restricted areas. After some searching, he stumbled upon one of the rooms where the luminite ore was being stored and processed. Carefully, he began to grab luminite and shove it into the bag of holding he was carrying. 

After a bit, he heard voices approaching, and hid behind a stack of luminite. "Did you see something?" said one of the guards. "I thought I saw somebody in here." 

"Nah, it's nothing. Let's go get a beer." 

"Yeah, guess so." They left the room. 

Pete finished up what he was doing and shoved in more luminite into the bag. As he was about to leave this room and try to find another so that it wasn't so obvious so much luminite disappeared from one spot, a pair of guards almost ran into him. 

"What are you doing in here?" one asked. "This is a restricted area." 

"I got lost," Pete said. "I was looking for the bar." 

"Right," the other said. "We're going to have to search you, just in case." 

Since they were pointing guns at him, Pete thought it was a good idea to submit to the search. He put his hands on his head and they patted him down and pulled out the bag of holding. "What is this?" the guard asked. 

"That's uh, a highly advanced.. sexual.. pleasure enhancer. Very handy for long.. lonely trips," Pete stammered. 

"It's a fucking pocket pussy," the guard snarled, and shoved it at Pete. "Get back to your ship and stay there. If I catch you out here again, you're going in the brig." 

"Yes, sir. Will do," Pete said. He grabbed the bag and shoved it in his pocket again and headed back straight to his ship. 

Deciding not to take any chances, Pete immediately left the station and headed out through the asteroid field. Apparently they either discovered the missing luminite or thought his behavior was suspicious in some manner, as he quickly received a message from the _Attila_ demanding his surrender. He kept inside the asteroid field and flew around, where the ship couldn't follow. When he got near the jump hole to the Transylvania system, he broke out of the asteroid field and headed at top speed for it. 

Pete was quite pleased with himself. The Empire would believe that the pirates were responsible for the theft and not think to come after his organization. He hopped over to the jump hole from Transylvania to Tau and headed back to Harris. 

"Was your mission successful?" asked Donovan when he arrived back at Harris several hours later. 

"Absolutely," Pete said. He pulled out the bag of holding and began extracting the luminite from it. However, he got a bit nervous about it as the device was sucking at his hand more than usual. After taking out a few pieces, he decided to play it safe and scoop the rest out with a net. Then, just as he had feared, after removing maybe half of the luminite, the net was sucked into the pocket dimension. Pete quickly let go of it. 

"What's wrong?" Donovan demanded. 

Richard examined the device. "Odd. The wormhole created by the device appears to be unstable. It is now collapsing in on itself." 

"Well," Donovan said. "No matter. We have enough luminite here to power several ships. Get to work on that." 

"Right away, my Lord," Richard said.


	36. The Benevolent Spy?

After hearing that the battleship had been destroyed, Talia was glad she had been on the first batch of ships out of the system. She still hadn't trusted herself to pilot a ship under the circumstances, however, so she'd flown out on Jake's freighter. It was, however, chilly enough on Siberia that she prefered to stay inside a ship whenever possible. The Rabbits didn't seem particularly uncomfortable, though. She envied their fur. 

The freighter hatch opened and a blast of cold air pricked Talia's skin. Mike and a woman she didn't recognize came in and closed the door behind them. The woman was wearing a navy blue pilot's jacket marked with the Death Dancer sign. 

"Ah, there you are, Talia," Mike said. "I'd like you to meet Marina Shea. She just arrived from the Coventry system." 

"A pleasure," said the woman. She sat down across from her, Mike leaning against the wall near the door. 

Talia instinctively scanned her, and became quite glad she did so. Working under orders of the Empress herself? And not the Chancellor? That was interesting. And further that her intention was only to report whether the pirates intended to overthrow the Empire itself. Stranger still, Marina had no recognition of Talia's name, and apparently didn't know about her arrest or the bounty on her head. Talia decided to keep quiet for the moment. 

"Have you heard anything about what a Koala named Blake is planning?" Talia asked, feigning innocence. 

"No," Marina said. "I haven't heard of any such person." 

"Yeah, that's the problem here," Mike said. "We've been trying to stop this Koala, but the Empire keeps interfering for some reason." 

"What's he trying to do?" Marina asked. 

"We believe he may be attempting to create super weapons with which to take over the galaxy," Talia said. "We suspect that he may be able to contrive some sort of weapon that could destroy or severely damage entire planets, if he isn't stopped." 

"You're serious? I haven't heard anything about this," Marina said. 

"It's thanks to Kalli that we got the prototype Nova away from him, or he may have already begun raiding the Karzan worlds," Mike said. 

Whatever Marina had expected, this clearly was not it. Talia added, "It's too bad the Empire insisted on attacking us in Transylvania. We almost had our fleet ready to go track him down and destroy him. Now we pretty much have to start from square one again, giving him more time to get his own projects ready." 

"Do you have any idea where he might be?" Marina asked. 

"He was last seen on planet Darwin," Mike said. "He has no doubt moved on to a more secret location by now, after Kalli stealing that ship right out from under their noses." 

"I.. heard about the incident up in Toronto. Was that you?" 

"Yep, that was us," Mike said. "Kind of crazy, really. What kind of tactical _idiot_ would try to solve any problem by just throwing peolple at it?" 

"What do you mean?" Marina asked. 

"Well, they didn't make any effective effort to stop us from leaving," Mike said. "They just threw a bunch of people in our way to make us have to cut our way through them and delay us. Seems kind of peculiar really. I wonder what they were really up to." 

Marina was genuinely puzzled. "Ai! I always knew Primos threw away lives pointlessly, but I didn't realize they'd do something quite so utterly useless as to stop Death Dancers with sheer numbers." 

"And not even just that," Mike said. "They might have succeeded if we were out in the open, but we had the tactical advantage of a hallway and a doorway. They couldn't even get close to us. They just kept throwing themselves at us." 

"Okay, that's just stupid," Marina said. "Who the buttsex was in charge there?" 

"The Chancellor," Talia said. 

Marina blinked slowly. "Are you certain of that?" 

Talia nodded ruefully. "Absolutely." 

Marina frowned thoughtfully, leaning her elbow against the table. She seemed to believe them. "This is a most interesting turn of events," she murmured. "What are you intending to do next?" 

"Set up a base in this system," Mike said. "Salvage what we can from Dracula Base. Secure the system from further incursions from the Empire. Prepare for battling Blake." 

"We should be pretty safe here," Talia said. "They can't send a battleship through a jump hole, to be sure. They'd have to attack with fighters, and our Novas are more than a match for their fighters." 

Marina nodded slowly. She was formulating a message to send back to the Empress. "I'll help in any way possible," she offered. 

Mike nodded. "We've got freighters heading off to the fringe worlds to procure supplies. We're setting up a network of sensor buoys near the jump holes into the system to alert us to any intrudors. Right now, the Death Dancers are the last line of defense in this system. We should be able to hold off anything small enough to get through the jump holes without too much trouble, at least." 

Marina nodded again. "I'll go confer with my wingmen. See you later." 

"Bye," Mike said. Marina stood and opened the hatch. Talia shivered at the brief breath of cold air before Marina went outside and closed it again. 

Once she was outside, Talia said, "She's a spy." 

"What?" Mike said. "Why didn't you let me know earlier?" 

"Don't worry," Talia said. "She's going to send a message back to the Empire. I suggest letting her wingman go without question." 

"I'm confused." 

"She's working for the Empress, not the Chancellor," Talia said. 

Mike raised an eyebrow. "What difference does it make?" 

"All the difference in the world," Talia replied distantly. "The Empress only wanted to know if we were intending to attack the Empire. And to leave us be if not." 

"That's an interesting development," Mike commented. "So you think the Empress and the Chancellor aren't really working so closely together as you'd normally think they would be?" 

Talia nodded. "So it appears. Marina is loyal solely to the Empress, and couldn't care less what the Chancellor says or thinks. She'd probably even kill him herself if there were sufficient evidence that he's working against the Empress." 

"Damn, I didn't realize psykers could get that much information," Mike said. "I thought you could only read surface thoughts?" 

Talia smiled softly. "You get to learn some shortcuts when you've been at it for years. You get all the dots, you just have to know how to connect them. That's why it's important to talk verbally about what you want to know more about. The information is much more likely to come to the surface that way. Now, the question is just what to do with that information..."


	37. Everyone Has Their Secrets. Sometimes They Know Them, Too.

Kalli flew in to Siberia and landed on the planet with the freighters she was escorting. It had been a quiet and uneventful trip, giving her a chance to relax for a while. Even if she was still annoyed at her parents. No matter, she didn't have to deal with _them_ anymore at least. 

They began offloading the supplies. "Hey, Kalli," Mike said, approaching. "Nice to see you back already." 

Kalli went over and hugged him. "Nice to see you again, too." She gave him a kiss. "Care to give a hand with this?" 

"Sure," Mike helped unload the crates of space rations. "We sent a group of freighters back up to Transylvania to see what they could salvage from the wreckage of the station and the ships. There's a lot of radiation up there around where that reactor blew. But most of the scrap from the station and the cruisers was pretty safe." 

"How long do you suppose it'll take them to set up a real base?" Kalli said. "Preferably one with, say, internal heating." She blew out a puff of fog. 

Mike chuckled softly. "Shouldn't be too long before they've got something thrown up. They've got the manpower and the motivation, after all. Most likely a temporary shelter while they get to work on a more permanent structure." 

"I hate to have to go back to eating space rations full time," Kalli muttered. 

"Heh. Yeah, they're seeing if they can salvage any of Dracula's hydroponic bays, just in case. So how was your trip home?" 

"Just peachy," Kalli said. "My parents still hate me." 

"Ah, why do you say that?" Mike asked. 

"Because they _do_ ," Kalli replied. "They're always trying to tell me what to do and criticizing me for anything and everything." 

"Like what?" 

"Like saying I'll get myself killed and that I should be home raising a family," Kalli said with a snort. "You'd think they were Primos or something." 

"I wouldn't say they hate you, exactly," Mike said. "I'd say they love you and don't want to see anything bad happen to you." 

"My mother wants to control my life. Just like she controls my dad." 

"Well," Mike said. "Some people are like that. They believe they know the best way and think anyone not doing things their way is being foolish. She isn't a Cybion by chance, is she?" 

"Er, yeah, she is, why?" Kalli asked. 

"Just wondering," Mike said. "Some Cybions have an odd relationship with their children. What sort of Cybion is she?" 

"What do you mean?" 

"Does she have any implants or anything?" Mike asked. 

Kalli shook her head. "No, nothing visible at least." 

"She's a genetic Cybion, then?" 

"I think so, yeah," Kalli said. "What does that have to do with anything?" 

"Everything," Mike said. "Some Cybions only want to improve themselves. They get cybernetic implants and such whenever they can afford to. The more extreme ones might blow a fortune on becoming some half-man, half-machine monstrosity." 

"Yeah," Kalli said. "I read all about that in school." 

"Genetic Cybions, however, don't get as much attention," Mike said. "They aren't as visible and tend to do their 'improvements' under the covers, so to speak." 

"What do you mean?" 

"If they aren't first-generation Cybions, they're probably genetically altered," Mike said. "And more often than not, do the same to their children." 

"What's the big deal about that?" Kalli asked. "Isn't that how the Furries and such were created?" 

"Well, yes, but the difference is, Cybions do it specifically to improve them, whatever their idea of improving is. They want to create a perfect race. If such a thing is even possible." 

"So why were the Furries created, then?" 

"Because somebody thought it would be nifty, I guess," Mike said with a shrug. 

Kalli stopped. "Wait a minute. Are you suggesting that I might have been.. genetically altered? My mother never told me anything of the sort..." 

"It's possible," Mike said. "Of course, the ethical thing would have been to at least inform you of it. As it's plainly obvious she failed to impart any Cybion virtues into you, as she must have at least tried. No matter." 

Kalli frowned thoughtfully. "I couldn't imagine what might have been changed, though." 

"I wouldn't worry too much about it," Mike said. "You'll always be you, and nobody else. And nobody's going to change that." 

Kalli leaned over and kissed him. "Let's get the last of these crates unloaded." 

They finished unloading the crates and stacked them over with the rest. "There, that should keep us going for a while," Mike said. 

"Time for a break," Kalli said. They went inside Kalli's Nova where it was warm and had their fun. 

Afterward, Mike said, "Although if you really wanted to make sure, we could ask one of the geneticists around to check out your DNA. They can generally tell if anything was tampered with." 

"Well, my curiosity always did get the better of me," Kalli said. "It couldn't hurt, I suppose." 

They stood up and put their clothes back on and headed out of the Nova to find where a geneticist might be. After a little asking around, they came to a freighter occupied by a woman named Melody Watson. 

"Come on in," said the woman. "Would you like some tea?" 

"Sure," said Kalli. She accepted a cup of the hot, if weak, tea. Warmth was more than welcome on this frigid planet. 

"What can I do for you folks?" Melody asked. 

"I understand you're experienced with genetics?" Mike said. Kalli was content to let him do the talking. 

Melody nodded. "That's right. What do you need? I managed to salvage some of my equipment here, so I may be able to help out." 

"We suspect Kalli here may have been genetically altered, as her mother was a genetic Cybion," Mike said. 

"Well, let's take a look, then," Melody said, pulling out some tools. "I'll just need to take a little sample here. This won't hurt a bit." 

Melody took the sample and brought it up into her computer. The screen brought up a progress bar with the words "Analyzing DNA Sample". After several long moments of uncomfortable silence, the results came up on the screen. Kalli peered at the readout, but couldn't begin to understand the colors and numbers and letters. 

"Hmm," Melody said, looking over the DNA. "Yes, there's definitely evidence of alterations over multiple generations," she said after a while. 

"And for Kalli?" Mike asked. 

Melody nodded slowly. "Hmm, yes, it looks like some of the modifications were made on this generation, unless I miss my guess." 

"To what purpose?" Kalli asked. 

"Can't say how effective it all was," Melody said. "Looks like there has been attempts at improving endurance, dexterity, learning capacity, and physical attractiveness, though. I'd say whoever did this was going for the subtle improvements over many generations approach instead of trying to create a super-human in one generation, a rather wise approach really as it allows a chance for any possible defects to come to light." 

"Well, that's not so bad, then, I suppose," Kalli murmured. 

"Hmm, that's odd, though," Melody said, peering at the screen. 

"What?" Kalli asked, leaning over to try to look, but couldn't make out just what Melody was reading. 

"Looks like there was some attempt to introduce psychic capacity at some point. Can't tell if it was this generation or a previous one, though, but it doesn't look like it worked at all. You don't have any psychic abilities do you?" 

"No..." Kalli said. "In fact, I'm apparently completely blind to them. Psykers can't read me at all." 

"Ah," Melody said, "Yes, that makes sense. Right here," she pointed to a place on the screen. "A recessive gene. Combined with the tampering attempt at giving you or your mother psychic abilities, it caused you to lose that sense completely instead. Did your mother ever demonstrate psychic capabilities, by the way?" 

"Not that I recall," Kalli said. "Although I'd hardly be the best one to ask that, considering my position there." 

"Yes, of course," Melody said. "I hope I've answered any questions you had." 

"Most definitely, thank you," Kalli said, standing up. 

"If you need me for anything else, let me know," Melody said. "If you ever get pregnant I may be able to correct that defect in your children, if you wanted." 

"We'll, er, keep that in mind." Kalli blushed. 

"Thanks again," Mike said, and they headed out of the freighter into the cold Siberian night.


	38. Home Sweet Home. Or Something Like That, At Least.

Mike said, "I've got pilots in Ravens and Griffons off searching the fringe worlds for any sign of Blake. In the meanwhile, shall we take another trip to Balzac for more supplies?" 

"We?" Kalli asked. 

"Yeah," Mike said. "I think I'll go with you this time. I'd like to meet this mother of yours." 

Kalli smirked. "I guess you're really serious, if you want to meet my parents. For some reason." 

Mike laughed. "I always want to see for myself. I want to know what kind of mother would genetically alter her children and then not tell them." 

"Oh, yes, I'd like to give her a piece of my mind, myself." Kalli sighed. "You'd think she'd have at least told me. And now look at me. Because of her, I'm _defective_." 

"Bah, nonsense," Mike said. "It's never stopped you before. Think of it as an unexpected gift. You didn't even know about it until you met Talia." 

"Well, that's true, I suppose." 

"And look on it this way," Mike said. "It's more beneficial than it is harmful. Psykers can't read you. They can't control you. They can't do a damned thing to you. How is that such a bad thing?" 

"Alright, alright, I see your point already," Kalli said with a laugh. "Fine, let's go back to Balzac then." 

"I'll leave Derek my Nova for the interim and be your co-pilot, then," Mike said. "If you don't mind." He grinned coyly. 

"Not at all," Kalli said with a wink. 

Mike contacted some freighter pilots and got a convoy ready to fly, and they climbed into Kalli's Nova and took off. The Nova, three Griffons, and six freighters flew along with them as they headed toward the jump hole to the Kyber system. 

"So how much Cybion propaganda _did_ she manage to drill into you, anyway?" Mike asked. 

Kalli shrugged. "I don't really know, honestly. We had a lot of arguments as I grew up. I didn't agree with a lot of what she said." 

"I mean, if we ever had a child, would you want to.. do anything to it? Even something as small as fixing that defect?" 

"I don't know," Kalli said. 

"I mean, it's entirely up to you, after all, but--" 

"Mike," Kalli said. "Don't worry about it. We'll cross that bridge when-- if --we come to it." 

"Fine. Okay." Mike leaned back in the co-pilot's chair and stared off into space. 

"Don't tell me you've never had a girlfriend before," Kalli said. "You're older than me, after all. What are you, thirty?" 

"Thirty-two," Mike said. "And that's something of a long story. And isn't it generally a good policy to not constantly talk about previous relationships with women, anyway? Or did I completely misunderstand the rulebook?" 

"Eh, what difference does it make?" Kalli said. "I want to know anyway. I must have missed that rule too." 

"Well, alright," Mike said. "It was many years ago, when I was around your age. Her name was Susan, and she was a Death Dancer. We had both been Death Dancers for years when we first met, but she was one of the best." 

Kalli listened to his story with interest as she piloted the ship through the jump hole to the Kyber system. 

"But Susan, she took it as a challenge to disable ships without destroying them. To leave people alive to remember her greatness." 

"Wait a minute," Kalli said. "Didn't you already tell me this once?" 

"Yes, I believe I did, once," Mike replied. 

"But you didn't mention her name or that you were involved." 

Mike nodded. "She was a great pilot. But she was very, very overconfident. We were involved for five years before she was finally killed." 

"I'm sorry." 

Mike raised a hand. "No, don't be. We're Death Dancers, and so was she. Any good Death Dancer knows that death can claim them at any moment. She lost sight of that and thought she was invincible. We must always remember that or the same could happen to us. That is why we celebrate death, not mourn it. To show our appreciation to the courage of those who gave their lives so that we could have a better place to live, so that we might survive, and to remind us that in this line of work, death is never very far away." 

"Enemy ships on long range sensors," Kalli said suddenly over the comm. "It's a Military patrol. What are they doing out _here_?" 

She broke formation and flew out to engage the enemy. The Nova attacked the Barracudas some distance from the freighters, leaving the Griffons behind to protect the convoy in case other ships turned up while they were away. With Mike and Kalli both on weapons, the first patrol was destroyed quickly, but another group was approaching fast from the same direction, the direction of the jump gate to Moosehead. The Nova engaged and destroyed that group as well. 

"This might be a bad sign," Mike said. "If they're sending patrols out into the fringe worlds like this." 

"Particularly if they notice those patrols didn't come back," Kalli said, rejoining the formation as they continued toward the Balzac system. 

"Let's hope they think it was caught by Kyber drug smugglers or something," Mike muttered. 

After some hours they crossed through the jump hole to the Balzac system and headed down toward the planet. Several unknown ships came up on Kalli's scanners near the planet. "Hmm, who might those be? They're not Griffons." 

Mike frowned until the identification signals came up. "Predators!" 

The Predators were in combat with the Balzac defense fleet, but greatly outnumbered them and were winning. Kalli shouted over the comm, "Fighters, break formation and engage the Predators! Freighters, try to land and _stay in your ships_." 

Kalli's Nova and the three Griffons that had gone with them zipped over toward the battle and entered the fray. "Good to see you again, Kalli," said her uncle's voice over the comm. 

"Looks like you could use a hand," Kalli said. She viciously tore into the Predators with the Nova's powerful weapons. 

"That Nova is too strong!" said one of the Predators. "Retreat!" 

The pack of Wolves scattered and flew away from the planet. The fighters turned and went down to land at the landing platform on planet Balzac. 

"Thanks for the help up there, Kalli," said Liam after they'd determined it safe to come out of their ships. The Predators hadn't managed to land on the planet. "And who is this dashing young Death Dancer?" 

Mike chuckled softly. Kalli said, "Uncle, this is Michael Pratt, my boyfriend. Mike, meet my uncle, Liam." 

They shook hands cordially. "Nice to meet you. I always knew Kalli had good taste in men." 

Mike said, "Jake! Can you get the supplies arranged? I'm going to go meet Kalli's parents." 

"Sure thing," Jake said. "Have fun." He snickered softly. 

"I'm sure they'll be delighted to see such a handsome specimen," Liam said. 

Mike smirked. "No offense, Liam, but if you want to flirt with somebody, you'd probably stand a better chance with Jake." 

Kalli led him down the road to where she remembered her parents' house was located at. "It feels strange, walking this street here with you," Kalli said quietly. 

Mike put his arm around her. "Someone a long time ago once said, 'Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today.'" 

Kalli climbed up the steps to the porch to her home in Porttown. It was the only real town of any size on Balzac. She stood there awkwardly for a long moment wondering if she should knock or ring the doorbell, or just go in because it _was_ her home. Then she figured that they'd just get the door slammed in their faces if she knocked, and opened the door and headed in. 

Down the hallway, she found her parents in the living room watching a holovid featuring badly acted ninjas. Her father said, "Who is at the-- oh, it's just you, Kalli." He sat down again. 

"And who is this man?" Barb said. 

"Mother, this is my boyfriend, Michael Pratt." 

"You both smell!" Barb scolded. "Take a bath, both of you. Right now." 

"At the same time?" Kalli said, raising an eyebrow. 

Barb ignored the question "And wash your clothes. I'm sure they stink too. I don't want to see either of you downstairs until you're smelling like a rose. Go on up there, right now." 

Kalli shrugged and just headed upstairs. They decided to take a bath together after all, to save time.


	39. Being a Loving Mother Through Genetic Engineering.

"Is she always like this?" Mike asked as they dried off. 

"Yeah," Kalli said. "She's probably paranoidly cleaning the carpet now to make sure we didn't track in any dirt, too. Having second thoughts about coming here?" Kalli grinned playfully. 

"Nah," Mike said. "The fun is just beginning." 

After cleaning their clothing and getting dressed again, they went downstairs and out into the living room again. The corny ninja holovid was still on. "Well, now that you two are presentable and civilized again, sit down," Barb said. 

Mike and Kalli sat down across from her parents. "Nice to meet you, too," Mike commented. 

Barb got up and pulled out some equipment and poked at Mike. "Now, I just need to do some analyses to determine if you're genetically compatable." 

Mike smirked as Barb took her sample and went into the next room. He said, "She's got her home equipped with genetic analyzers and you never considered she might have altered you?" 

Kalli snickered softly. "I never really thought about it." 

Leonard said, "Would you like some popcorn?" 

"Yes, please," Mike said. He munched on the popcorn and Kalli took a handful as well. "What holovid is this?" 

" _Hummingbird Man_ ," Lenny said. 

"What's it about?" Mike asked. 

"About some ninja with an anti-gravity butt who can hover in mid-air while kicking people's butts." 

Kalli snickered softly. Mike said, "Um. Interesting." 

The hovering ninja on the screen proceeded to beat up five guys at once with some obviously fake kicks that never got near their faces yet caused a smacking sound followed by the guys falling down. 

Barb came back into the room with a data pad. "Most excellent. Congratulations, you two are perfectly genetically compatable. You may breed." 

Kalli smirked. "Mother, there was a little something I'd intended to talk to you about." 

"What was that, dear?" Barb sat down on the couch next to Lenny again. 

"Were you trying to make me psi-blind, or was that unintentional?" Kalli said with a smirk. 

"Er," Barb said. "You are?" 

"Yes," Kalli said impatiently. 

Barb poked at her data pad and peered at the data a bit. "Completely?" 

"Yes. Completely. Psykers can't read me at all." 

"Are you certain?" 

"Yes," Kalli sighed. "I've had more than one psyker all say the same thing." 

"You sure they weren't lying to you?" 

Kalli smirked. "Yes, I'm quite sure. Seeing as at the time, one of them was trying to extract information from me that he really wanted, and thanks to that, he couldn't get it." 

Barb just stared at her for a long moment. "Well, that was.. not expected, no." 

"What _were_ you trying to do?" Kalli asked. 

"Um..." Barb said unsteadily. It was a great pleasure seeing her caught so offguard like this for once. Always so self-assured, and now she didn't know what to say! "Would you like something to drink?" she changed the subject. 

"Yes, please," Mike said, smiling. 

Barb got up and went to the kitchen and came back with a tray with four cups and a pitcher of worfberry juice. Kalli gratefully took a glass and sipped the tasty juice. "So," Kalli said. "What were you trying to do?" 

"Well," Barb said, sipping her juice and setting the cup on the table. "I'd been attempting to introduce psychic powers. I'd thought myself and Len had the correct combination of genes between us to manage that." She seemed rather embarassed about the entire business and Kalli couldn't help but feel a bit bad about it. 

"Don't worry, Mother," Kalli said with a faint smile. "I know you were trying for my benefit and I appreciate that." She had never really appreciated it before, but she couldn't bring herself to hold it against her. 

Barb, for one, seemed so happy to hear her daughter say that, that she spontaneously went over and gave her a big hug. Mike chuckled softly, and said, "Well, damn, shall I take a picture of this?" 

Kalli just laughed and hugged her mother back. Barb said, "Please, stay for dinner. I'll make something special to celebrate." 

"Certainly," Kalli said. Barb released her and scurried off to the kitchen. On the screen, a ninja hovered over the bloodless bodies of a number of people and screamed something incoherent as the screen faded into credits. 

Mike headed over to sit by Lenny. "Have you ever seen _Trigger_? That one's great. It's about a Death Dancer flying around randomly blowing things up." Kalli chuckled to herself and headed out to the kitchen. 

"Now, you just sit right there and relax," Barb said, pointing to a chair. "Tell me all about what you've done since you left home." 

Kalli just shrugged slightly and sat down as Barb got to work cooking. Her mother had always prefered doing things herself than trusting anything automated. Kalli sipped her glass of worfberry juice and thought about just where to begin with it all. Finally, she just settled for the beginning. 

"I went to Secundus, but they wouldn't let me offworld without a job, except to go back to the fringe worlds," Kalli said. "So then Jake hired me on as an escort to transport goods to planet Darwin." 

"Oh, that fellow you were with before?" Barb said. "I thought he was a pirate or something." 

"No, not really." Kalli wondered if she should tell her about that bit, but figured her own mother wouldn't give her away to the Karzan Empire. "After we arrived I found out he had been transporting drugs, and had neglected to inform me of this little detail." 

"Oh, dear, I always told you to watch out for strangers," Barb said. 

"Didn't really have much choice in getting off Secundus, anyhow. But he's a nice guy, really, once you get to know him," Kalli said. 

"So how did you meet Mike out there?" 

"He was one of Jake's friends," Kalli said. "We met on a pirate base in the Lorres system." 

"So! I knew it! They're pirates?" Barb asked. 

"You'd be surprised, really," Kalli said. "Let me finish." 

"Go on, go on." 

"Then, we met up with this woman, Talia. She's a psyker, and told us that there was somebody trying to steal a shipment of luminite from the Rath system in order to build a fleet of super-fighters, to take over the galaxy with." 

Barb had almost forgotten about her cooking, in rapt attention to Kalli's story. She remembered what she was doing and turned it. "So what did you do?" 

"Talia, Mike, and Jake went and stole the transport of luminite from the other guys who had stolen it," Kalli said. "While I went and stole the prototype fighter." She pointed in the general direction of the landing platform. "That ship I came in on, namely." 

"Oh, so _that's_ where you got it." 

"Talia's commanding officer was afraid that if allowed to, this Koala, Blake, would find a way to create a super-weapon capable of causing extensive damage and maybe even destroying entire planets. So now we're trying to stop him." 

"So, wait a minute. These pirates are really the good guys?" 

"I'd like to think so, yeah," Kalli said. "In the time I've been with them I've seen nothing but selfless concern for one another and the well-being of the galaxy. The drug smuggling I believe is mainly so that they don't have to steal the supplies they need to survive." 

"Well," Barb said. "When this Blake is defeated, will you settle down and raise a family somewhere." 

Kalli giggled. "When was I ever much one for settling down?" 

"I suppose it was too much to hope for. You always were the independent sort." 

"And you aren't?" Kalli winked at her. 

Barb laughed. "I see your point. What about that Mike fellow? Are you planning any kids? Maybe a nice daughter who is _just_ like you." 

Kalli snickered softly. "So why didn't you ever tell me, anyway?" 

"About the genetic thing?" Barb asked. "I thought it was fairly obvious under the circumstances. I figured you were smart enough to figure it out yourself." 

"Well, that is a point," Kalli said, smirking. 

"So what are you thinking? Maybe fix her so she has actual psychic powers instead? Oh yes, don't worry, you're quite compatable with that nice Mike fellow. He's most definitely strong and healthy and doesn't have any annoying recessive genetic disorders or anything. Quite a nice choice, really." 

"I don't know. Maybe." 

"Do you have a good geneticist with those pirates of yours, or would you like me to do it?" Barb asked. 

"Mother," Kalli said, holding up a hand. "I'm not ready to have a child just yet." 

"Oh, certainly," Barb said. "Take your time. Have your fun. If you ever need me, though, you know where I am." 

"Thanks," Kalli said sheepishly. 

"Now. Let's eat! We have much to celebrate tonight."


	40. Blow More Shit Up.

After dinner, Kalli and Mike bid her parents goodnight and returned to the landing platform. The freighters were loaded up and ready to go. Mike called in the pilots and before long, they were off on their way back to Siberia again. 

"So, how were the folks?" Jake asked over the comm as they headed toward the Kyber jump hole. 

"Great," Kalli replied, giggling. She was all smiles now. "Had a nice dinner, too." 

"And you didn't invite me?" Jake said in mock-hurt. "Ah, no matter. _I_ got acquainted with that nice uncle of yours." 

They flew on through the Kyber system and returned to Siberia without incident. Upon landing and beginning to unload the supplies, Bill approached Mike and said, "I have reports back from the scouts. We've found Blake. He's on planet Harris in the Tau system. And he has Novas." 

"Functional?" Mike said. Bill nodded, and handed him a data pad. "Where did he get the luminite? Damn it!" 

Marina came up to them and said, "My sources report a breach of security in the Rath system some days ago. A moderate amount of luminite was found to be missing, however it was this group that was implicated in the theft." 

"Come on," Mike said, gesturing at Marina and heading toward the shelter that had been set up. "You too, Kalli. Jake! Find me Talia and send her there." 

They sat down at a table inside. Mike dropped the data pad on the table with a clatter and a sigh. Talia walked into the room and said, "You're back, great." Anderos came in right behind her. 

"Sit down, Talia, Anderos," Mike said. "You've heard about Blake's latest hideout, I presume?" 

Talia nodded. "What are we going to do about it?" 

Mike pointed at the data pad. "He has ten Novas. How many do we have completed?" 

"Seven," Talia said. "And they've been working overtime since we got here on the base and the ships." 

"Even considering that our pilots are probably a good deal better than theirs, I don't know how one Nova would fare against another," Mike said. "And furthermore I doubt they'll just let us slip in somebody and steal them this time." 

"If the Empire knew about this, they'd no doubt want to wipe it out," Marina commented. 

Mike waved his hand. "We destroyed an imperial battleship with _four_ Novas. However much I'm willing to bet that we're better pilots than these guys, it's not foolproof. And it's only a matter of time before they come up with something more powerful. We have to do something." 

"I have operatives among Blake's group," Anderos said. "I haven't heard word from them recently, obviously, but I believe they're still with him. They're fairly outnumbered, however if each of them could grab a Nova that may even the odds a bit." 

"How many?" Mike asked. 

"Five, if they're all still alive," Anderos said. 

"Leaving us with twelve against five, instead of seven against ten, if all goes well. Those are better odds," Mike said. "A direct attack, then?" 

"We may have little choice," Talia said ruefully. 

"We'll need our best pilots in the Novas," Mike said. "Marina? Myself, Kalli, Warren, Derek, and two others. Perhaps one of the other killer bunnies and one of Marina's wingmen." 

Marina nodded. "I'll do it." 

Mike contacted the others and told them to get ready to fly. Kalli pulled Mike aside and said, "If we're all off in Tau, the base may be vulnerable." 

"Hopefully, we'll be there and back before anyone realizes we're gone," Mike said quietly. "But we'll take only the Novas, just in case. The other fighters should be able to handle anything less than a Nova attacking until they get another one online. I hope." 

Shortly, they boarded the seven Novas and flew off in formation toward the jump hole to the Tau system. 

"I didn't really think _this_ would be the way I'd get in the pilot's seat of a Nova," Derek said over the comm. 

"Let's just hope those operatives do their job and even the odds here," Mike said. "Otherwise this is going to be a fun fight." 

The squadron reached the jump hole and crossed through to the Tau system, and Mike ordered radio silence until they were in range. They approached planet Harris. No Karzan Military patrols attacked them along the way. Apparently they didn't figure Harris was important enough to protect just yet. 

The enemy Novas lifted into the air as they closed in on the location of the base. It was difficult to tell which ships belonged to which factions. Mike said, "Break radio silence. Activate faction signals!" 

The ships lit up on the screen as one by one, Mike's wingmen declared themselves as Death Dancers. Even Derek, with a moment's hesitation, to his surprise. Then, to his amusement, seven of the enemy ships declared themselves as members of KOCLOP. The remaining three Novas remained factionless as they attacked the KOCLOP ships. 

"Koalas Opposing Conspicuous Lack of Pants?" Mike said over the comm incredulously. "What the _buttsex_?" 

Mike dove into the fray, quite puzzled, and loosed his Nova's weapons upon the nearest KOCLOP ship. It was a good deal tougher than any ship that size he'd fought, but after a number of strikes he did manage to penetrate its forcefield. Knowing full well that their weapons were just as good as his, though, he made a concerted effort to maneuver around to avoid getting hit with them too much. 

As the fight wore on, two of the KOCLOP ships were destroyed. One of them switched off its faction signal and flew down toward the surface. The Death Dancers were too busy dealing with the remaining four ships to deal with it just yet. After another of them went down, Mike followed it toward the surface and into the atmosphere to see what it was up to. Moments later, the remaining enemy ships were destroyed finally and his companions followed him. 

They came down and landed on the surface near Blake's base. "Good work, fellows," Mike said to the three operatives. "I hope you all remembered to password-protect your ships so that somebody doesn't run off with them," he said pointedly. A couple people jumped back in their ships to fix that. Mike snickered. He pulled out his side arms and headed into the base. 

There were fifteen of them that stormed the base, as some of them had had co-pilots. They split up into teams of three and ransacked the area, shooting anyone that tried to stop them. Mike's group encountered a man in a storeroom who quickly threw up his hands and said, "Don't shoot! I surrender!" 

"I don't have time to deal with prisoners right now," Mike said. "Have a nice nap." He set his blaster on stun and shot him. "Someone take him back to the ships." One of them nodded and hauled the guy back toward where they'd left the Novas. 

He closed the door and moved on, searching for the Koala. He and the Rabbit he didn't know the name of came to a fork, and he pointed for him to take the other way and went on. A bit after that, around a corner, he heard a voice saying, "Come on, Meg. We have to get to the ship. We have to get you somewhere safe!" 

Mike turned the corner to see two Koalas, a male and a female. He pointed his weapon at them and said, "Who are you?" 

"I am Lord Donovan Blake!" the male Koala shouted. "You are trespassing on my base!" He released the female and said, "Run, Meg! Get to the ship!" He pulled a weapon on Mike. 

Mike reflexively fired his weapon, but the Koala was faster. Donovan's shot struck Mike on the leg as he fired. Mike's aim was knocked off by the attack, and struck Meg instead of his intended target. 

Donovan glanced over his shoulder and screamed, "Meg!" He ran headlong over toward her. "You fucking bastard, you've killed Meg!" 

In a rage, Donovan raised his weapon to fire at Mike again, and Mike fired a shot straight at the weapon instead to hold off any further attacks. The blaster was disabled neatly by the shot, but relief was only momentary as several of Donovan's guards appeared from further down the hallway. Outnumbered and wounded, Mike ducked behind the corner, wincing at the pain in his leg. 

"Kill him!" shouted Donovan's voice. "I want his head!" 

Mike held them off for a few moments until the Rabbit he was with heard the commotion and came up behind him. "I think I pissed them off," Mike muttered. 

"Lord Blake," said another voice out of sight. "We must get to the ship immediately." 

"No!" cried Donovan Blake. "He killed Meg! He must pay! He must _die_!" 

"Leave that to your warriors, my Lord. We are outgunned and overpowered here. We must go elsewhere to regroup! There will be time enough for revenge later." 

"Very well, Mr. Penner, we will go, but I want this Death Dancer _dead_. No, no. I want him captured! For a slow, painful death. Yes..." 

"I'll take a rain check on the slow painful death, if you don't mind," Mike shouted back at him. "Let's get out of here," he said to the Rabbit. 

Mike staggered back from the corner. The Rabbit said, "You're wounded! Get back to the ships. I'll cover you." Mike nodded and stumbled as quickly as he could back down the hallway as the Rabbit held off the warriors. 

He met up with the others out by the ships. Some of them had also been injured. Some hadn't come back at all. "Get to your ships!" Mike shouted. "Blake's trying to escape! We'll come back for the others later, if they're still alive." 

They boarded the ships quickly and took off. Two Novas were flying out from the base out into space. Their small fleet converged on the first one and destroyed it quickly, but the second was much too fast. It zipped out of range before they even realized it. 

"What the buttsex?" said someone over the comm. "What is that, some kind of Supernova?" 

"Looks like it," Mike said, sighing. "Blake must have been on that ship. Damn him! He must have kept back his personal ship for an escape route. Let's go back to the surface and search for survivors."


	41. Your Chances of Survival Are Higher If You're Important To the Plot.

Mike had remained in his ship, nursing his badly burnt leg, leaving Kalli to lead the team searching the base. Most of those at the base had already fled the area. She was afraid the Novas hadn't managed to catch all the other ships that had scattered off, although they had destroyed a few of them. They did encounter a few who had been stranded there, however. Some of those surrendered, or fled the area on foot. Some prefered to fight to the death. 

"I have to pity anyone that runs off on foot on this forsaken planet," Kalli commented. 

"At least it has breathable air now," Derek said. "I wouldn't want to have been running around here without a vac-suit back when it didn't have an atmosphere." 

"Yeah, I could see how that would put a damper on your day," Kalli said. "Why didn't the scouts notice that Supernova in their survey of the base?" 

"Coronite shielding, I think," Derek said. 

"Hmm, could be." She opened a door and said, "Whoa, what is this?" 

Inside appeared to be some sort of laboratory. There were a number of gadgets and gizmos around the room whose function she could not immediately identify. Some of them beeped or blinked, or just bubbled and spun, glowing and humming, buzzing and ringing. 

"Maybe this was where whoever designed the Nova worked," Derek suggested. 

"There might be something useful here," Kalli said. 

"Or more likely, things that randomly blow up when you touch them," Derek warned. 

Kalli smirked. "That is a point, yes. I have no idea what any of the crap here _does_. I'm no scientist. And particularly not a mad one." 

"Let's finish the search and send over a scientist later to see if they can make sense of this," Derek said. 

"Good idea." She closed the door and headed out down the hallway again. 

Further down the hallway they came across a pile of bodies. Kalli was about to step over them and move on when she heard one of them groan. She glanced down to see a young Koala girl stir slightly. 

"This one's still alive," Kalli said, kneeling down next to the Koala. She didn't appear to be injured, unlike most of the others who had burn wounds from blasters on their bodies. "Are you alright?" Kalli asked. 

"Ungh," moaned the Koala. "Where am I? Where's Don?" 

Kalli raised an eyebrow, then said, "Come on, let's get you out of here. Can you walk?" 

"I think so," she replied. "I'm just a little dizzy." She looked around and noticed the bodies. "Oh my. What happened here?" she breathed. 

"There was a fight," Kalli explained. 

"Where is Donovan? Is he alright?" 

"Who?" 

"Donovan Blake!" the Koala said urgently. "Where is he?" 

Kalli blinked for a moment and connected the dots. "He's gone. He escaped on a fast ship and has probably left the system by now." 

"He left me?" the Koala asked incredulously. "He left me behind?" 

"Shh, calm down. What's your name?" 

"Meg," she said, sniffling. "I can't believe he'd leave me behind. Why would he do such a thing?" 

Kalli couldn't help but pity the poor girl. "Come on. Let's go. We won't hurt you." 

"Alright," Meg whimpered. She stumbled along beside them as they headed back to the ships. 

"What happened, anyway?" 

"Don told me to run," Meg said. "There was this guy. With the same symbol as you," Meg pointed to her Death Dancer insignia. "And then I ran. And I heard weapons firing. And then nothing." 

"Well, you don't seem to be injured," Kalli said. "So you must have only been stunned." 

"Stunned?" 

"Yeah." She glanced down at Meg's confused expression. "The blasters have different settings. At the lowest settings, being shot by them will only knock you out for a while but cause no permanent harm." 

"Oh," Meg said quietly. "I thought I might be dead." 

"No, no," Kalli chuckled softly. "You're perfectly alright." 

They got outside the base and reached where the ships were parked. The groups had located some more survivors, some of whom were being given first aid for their injuries. Kalli headed over toward Mike's ship with Meg. 

Kalli opened the hatch to Mike's ship. Meg looked inside and saw Mike. "That's him!" She tried to run, but Kalli caught her and held her to her chest. Meg sobbed pathetically. 

"Shh, it's alright, he's not going to hurt you," Kalli said reassuringly. 

"That's Meg," Mike murmured. "She's alive?" He checked his blaster in some confusion. "My blaster must still have been set to stun..." 

"Calm down, Meg," Kalli said, rubbing her back gently. "It's alright. It's alright." 

"Kalli, we should be getting going here soon," Mike said. "I'm going to need to see a doctor over this leg here. It's worse than I thought. And walking all over it probably didn't help much, either. May need a co-pilot so I can get some rest on the way back." 

Kalli nodded. "I'll have my hands full here trying to keep Meg from freaking out. Jittery little thing. How's Derek?" 

"Great, I was meaning to have a word with him about his newfound affiliation, anyway. Call him over." 

Derek came over and they rearranged pilots a bit, and he climbed into Mike's Nova. Kalli herded Meg, who had calmed down a little bit, over to her own ship. "Here, hop in, we're going to go somewhere nice and safe. More or less." 

"Safe?" Meg said plaintively. "But Don always says he'll take me somewhere safe, and then I end up getting shot at and almost die and then he abandons me!" 

"Alright then, how about a completely unsafe, weird place?" Kalli said with a smirk. 

"Well, okay," Meg said. She climbed into the Nova. 

Kalli followed her in, put in her password, and started up the engines. "Here, sit down." She indicated the co-pilot's seat. Meg nervously climbed up into the seat and peered at the controls. "You don't have to do anything, don't worry." Meg nodded. 

The small fleet of Novas took off one by one and headed away from planet Harris, and turned back toward the jump hole to the Siberia system. Along the way, they passed a small squadron of Military fighters that didn't survive very long. However, the brief fight caused Meg to curl up terrified in her seat. 

"It's alright," Kalli assured her. "They won't hurt you." 

"Are you sure?" Meg wondered. 

"They'll have to come through me to do it, and I'm not about to let hem hurt _me_ , that's for sure." 

"Well... okay." 

They resumed course and headed back to the Siberia system. Meg remained nervous and uneasy about just about everything, every single blip on the scannars, even the jump hole. She had to have been through several before in her life, but she still cowered and hid her face in the back of the seat when they went through it. Kalli had to wonder to herself just why she was such a skitterish creature. 

"So why did you decide to become a Death Dancer, Derek?" said Mike's voice over the comm. 

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Derek commented. 

Kalli smirked and switched on her comm. "Did you forget and leave your comm on again, Mike?" 

"Er, oops," Mike said. "Damn, I'm just not with it today. I should by all rights be dead now, if Blake's aim had been any better." 

Meg continued to huddle quietly in the co-pilot's seat. Kalli said, "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get another chance soon." 

The fleet landed back in the chilly valleys of Siberia. Kalli turned off the engines as a precaution immediately. She didn't think Meg was the sort to try to steal the ship, but she had learned by now not to take any chances. She went and opened the hatch into the frigid air. If it was this cold in the warmest part of the planet, she didn't feel like visiting the colder parts. 

"Why are you so scared, Meg?" Kalli finally asked. 

"I'm afraid I might get hurt," Meg whined sheepishly. "And I don't want to get hurt, because getting hurt... hurts..." 

"Well, nobody's going to hurt you, I've already said," Kalli said slowly. "And even if something were to hurt you, being scared of it wouldn't stop it from hurting you in the first place. If anything it'd make it easier to hurt you because you'd be cowering there scared instead of doing anything useful like running away or defending yourself." 

"Oh," Meg said quietly. "It's cold out here." 

"Yes," Kalli agreed. "Yes it is. And _I_ don't have a nice coat of fur like you do. So what do you say we go inside, shall we?" 

"Alright."


	42. The Life of Meaning.

"Your Highness, there is a messenger here for you," said Sibyl. 

"Send him in," Empress Alisa said. 

A young man with the Death Dancer insignia on his flight jacket came in. He bowed deeply before the Empress. She recognized him as Lyle Hughes, one of Marina's wingmen. "Your Highness, I have brought a message from Marina Shea." 

"Excellent," Alisa said. "Come." She gestured smoothly, and turned to stride out onto her balcony, where they might speak more privately. The Death Dancer followed her. "Speak your message." 

"The pirates are holed up on Siberia. They do not actually intend to attack the Empire except in direct self-defense," Lyle said. "They are, in fact, working against a Koala who _does_ intend to take over the galaxy. They fear he may be trying to develop super-weapons that could destroy entire planets." 

Alisa frowned and leaned against the balcony railing. "This is an interesting development. Is Marina absolutely certain of this?" 

Lyle nodded gravely. "She felt it imperative that I return here with this news as soon as possible. Marina has remained to assist them in this operation and gather further information." 

Alisa paced back and forth across the balcony pensively. "Why is the Chancellor so obsessed with destroying them?" she said, mostly to herself. "Perhaps he does not realize that they are actually working for us, rather than against us. He should be informed immediately. Sibyl! Bring me the Chancellor at once." 

"Yes, your Highness." Sibyl hurried out of the chamber, silk ribbons fluttering as she went. 

"The pirates do have several of the new Nova fighters at their disposal," the Death Dancer said. "And they're still working to construct more." 

"They would be a valuable asset to the Empire," Alisa commented. "Perhaps you could return to them with a message from myself." 

"If you wish it so, I will do so," Lyle said. 

Momentarily, the Chancellor entered the main audience chamber and proceeded out toward the balcony. "You wished to speak with me, Your Highness?" 

"Yes, Chancellor," Alisa said. "I wish to speak about those pirates again. Were you aware that they are, in fact, working against a Koala who intends to attempt to conquer the galaxy?" 

"Why, I most certainly was not aware of this," the Chancellor said. "But why must you trouble yourself such with the matter? They are, after all, criminals and shall be dealt with accordingly in due time." He laid his hand on her shoulder. 

"Back away from me, Chancellor," Alisa said coldly. "Do not touch me." 

"Now, that is unbecoming of you. What would your parents say?" 

"My parents are dead, now remove your hand from my shoulder at once," Alisa said in almost a snarl. 

Beside her, Lyle drew his weapon and pointed it at the Chancellor. "You should do what the Empress commands." 

The Chancellor removed his hand from her shoulder. His cybernetic eye glittered faintly as it peered at the blaster. "Quite rude to carry a weapon into the presense of the Empress, is it not?" 

"It's quite rude to disobey the Empress, as well, is it not?" Lyle snapped back at him. 

"My Death Dancers may carry whatever weapons they wish wherever they wish," the Empress said firmly. 

"Now, now. Threatening the Chancellor is a serious crime." 

"So is disobeying the Empress," Lyle said. He did not put his weapon away. 

"About those pirates," the Chancellor said. "Where abouts are they hiding now? Oregon?" 

"Siberia," Alisa said. 

"Excellent," he said. "I shall be certain to send a team there to destroy them at once." 

"No," Alisa said flatly. 

"Are you proposing sympathy for lawbreakers now?" the Chancellor said smoothly. 

"I propose speaking with them and gaining their support." 

"The Empire does not negotiate with criminals." The Chancellor glanced uneasily at Lyle's weapon again. 

"Last I checked, _I_ have the final say on what the Empire does or does not do, not you." 

"And, as you are not of legal majority, my dear Empress, I can declare your commands null and void if I so desire." 

Alisa glared at him. "You are also bordering dangerously close to treason here, Chancellor." 

"I wonder who you think is really in control here, Alisa," the Chancellor said, grinning. He lifted a hand and gestured slightly, and a number of uniformed Karzan Military soldiers came in brandishing weapons. 

"What are you doing?" Alisa said. "This is treason!" 

"You grow troublesome, my dear. Just like your mother and father before you. Perhaps one of your cousins will be more amenable." 

Lyle pressed his blaster to the Chancellor's stomach. "Don't you dare." 

"If you shoot me," the Chancellor said, "they will not hesitate to shoot you and your precious Empress. Yes, my dear, you really should not hang around balconies so much. Just one little fall and it's all over, and nobody will be the wiser." 

"You filthy traitor!" Alisa snapped. 

"Goodbye, my dear Empress." The Chancellor pushed. 

"Empress!" Lyle shrieked. Without hesitation, he leaped from the balcony and dove after her. Alisa screamed as she felt the air rushing past her and saw the dizzying towers of Ottawa spin toward the skies. Then, in an instant, she felt something catch her. "I've got you, Empress." 

She looked down and saw his feet suspended in mid-air on nothing over the street. "How?" 

"Anti-gravity boots," Lyle commented. "I'm a Death Dancer. In this line of work, you have to be prepared for _anything_." 

"Thank you," Alisa murmured. She looked high above them back toward the balcony. 

"Let's get you somewhere safe," Lyle said. He was still holding his weapon with one hand. With a slight shift of something, they were heading off toward the landing platform where he'd doubtless left his ship. 

"The Chancellor wants to kill me," Alisa whispered. "Why? That evil traitor." 

"You think he'll try to kill you again?" Lyle asked. 

"I wouldn't put anything past him, now," Alisa said quietly. "Take me offworld. Quickly. Take me to Siberia. Then I must decide what I need to do about this matter." 

"As you wish, Your Highness." He set her down gently on the landing platform and switched to normal gravity again. "I'm afraid my Griffon would be a little cramped, though. And they might well use this chance to destroy us and claim innocence." 

"And the alternative is to stay here and be hunted down by the Chancellor's lackeys," Alisa said. "Traitors, all of them. I'll take that chance." 

"Very well, Empress," He opened the hatch to the Griffon and helped her inside, and took the pilot's seat himself. It was a one-man ship, but there was some room in the back for a seat. She made a makeshift chair on a box of rations. "I apologize for the lack of space in here." 

"It's quite alright, Lyle. Let's go." 

Lyle took the Griffon off from the landing platform and headed out of the atmosphere. Carefully avoiding the battleship in orbit, he headed toward the jump hole to Terra. "It will be a long trip," Lyle warned her. "And I've nothing to eat on this ship but space rations." 

"That is acceptable," she said quietly. "Preferable to death by the hands of traitors." 

"I will protect you at any cost, Empress," Lyle said. 

A patrol of Military ships crossed their path. "Halt!" they said over the comm. "You are accused of murdering the Empress! Surrender at once." 

"Lies travel fast, don't they," Lyle muttered dryly. He glanced back at Alisa, who leaned forward and gestured to the comm. He switched on the comm. 

"I can assure you, I am very much alive," Alisa said. 

"Halt!" said the comm. "You are accused of kidnapping the Empress. Surrender at once." 

"I believe I would have a difficult task of kidnapping myself," Alisa commented. "What I do is my business. Break off and return to your standard patrol." 

Lyle switched the comm off. "What now, Empress?" 

"Keep going. Whether or not they do so." 

"As you wish." Lyle headed on toward the jump hole. The ships began firing at them, but Lyle swiftly dodged. He switched the comm back on for Alisa. 

"By firing upon the Empress, you have committed high treason!" Alisa said. "Desist at once!" 

"We're under orders from the Chancellor," said the voice. Lyle turned it off again. 

"Let's get out of here," Lyle said. 

"Indeed." 

He dodged their incoming shots and zipped off at top speed away from them. Alisa was grateful that this was a Griffon, in spite of how cramped it was, because of its speed and maneuverability. She wondered if a larger ship would have even made it out of here without having to forcefully blow its way through the patrol. It didn't take long for the slower Barracudas to fall back. 

"Have you ever been through a jump hole before?" Lyle asked. 

"No," Alisa said. 

"Well, hang on back there. It's a bit of a rough ride." 

Alisa nodded slightly. Shortly, the Griffon entered the jump hole to Terra, and a mind-wrenching kaleidoscope of colors spiraled around them. Lyle skillfully navigated the twists and turns of the jump hole before they came out on the other side in the Terra system. 

"I'm going to take us straight to Lorres," Lyle said. "I don't dare land on Miranda. It's not safe, not now. There will be bounty hunters and other scum there." 

Alisa nodded. "Very well. Do what you think is best." 

Somewhere in the midst of their long flight, Alisa dozed off on the uncomfortable box of rations and fell asleep.


	43. Interrogation and Preparation.

Talia and Anderos were questioning the people they had captured from the base on planet Harris about anything they knew about Donovan Blake. They'd gathered a good bit of information that way, but had come to the conclusion that the guy was a complete crackpot. Furthermore, the operatives had met with them and reported their own findings. 

"Damn, this Blake sounds like a real nutter," Talia commented. She headed inside the shelter and grabbed a cup of weak tea. It wasn't very tasty but at least it was hot. 

"Indeed," Anderos said. "That makes him no less dangerous, however. Particularly with a man like Richard Penner working for him, and absolutely no morals on what his inventions might be used for." 

"By all accounts, this Penner isn't much more sane," Talia said. "But he must be some sort of genius to be able to put together these projects in days that would take most people weeks or months of work, maybe even years of testing." 

"It's something remarkable, indeed," Anderos said. "Perhaps he is a Cybion." 

"That's entirely possible," Talia said. "I just can't see how it could be possible for a normal human to work all this stuff up in his head with only the most minor of flaws in the finished product." 

"However, what may make Blake most dangerous, is his obsession with Margaret Vornholt." 

"Meg," Talia said quietly. "Mike said he thought she was dead. Nothing will hold him back now." 

"Unless he finds out she's really alive. And if he finds out we're holding her 'captive', he may decide to come after her," Anderos said. 

"Which could be very bad for us if Penner has designed something new in the interim." 

"He wouldn't put her in danger if there was even the slightest possibility of her being still alive," Anderos said. "I think he's more likely to attack us out of revenge for her 'death' and destroy us all, otherwise." 

"We've already got scouts from here to Hamilton looking for him," Talia said. "But with that Supernova he could be anywhere by now. Maybe he even went past the fringe and into uncharted space. We'd never find him out there." 

"It's entirely possible," Anderos said. "But the risk of using an uncharted jump hole are fairly high, and I doubt he's the kind to take that kind of risk without good reason. I don't think he'll go further away from us than absolutely necessary." 

"If he's around, they'll find him. I hope." 

"Best if they find him before Penner has a chance to put together some highly advanced new contraption." 

Talia nodded. "Meanwhile, what are we going to do about Meg?" 

"She seems to have calmed down somewhat. Kalli's been taking care of her," Anderos said. "Blake seems to have upset her more than protected her, really." 

"Do you suppose he really thought he was somehow protecting her with all his crazy antics?" Talia wondered. 

"It's entirely possible that his deranged mind could have really believed just about anything," Anderos said. "He might have believed planet Harris was inhabited by flying Pigs and pink Elephants, for all I know." 

"Why were these guys following him at all if they knew he was so insane?" Talia asked. 

"It's hard to say, really," Anderos said. "People will do things for any number of reasons. Some of them may not have realized the full extend of his insanity, or believed that they didn't truly understand his motives or that he was a messenger from a deity or something. Some were just in it for the money, and when the deal soured, they surrendered to us. For all his apparent mental illness, he did seem to have copious amounts of credits. Whether he acquired them thought legal means, inheritance, or shadier operations is also open for debate." 

Talia sipped her tea and looked over the data pad where she had been recording the results of her interrogations, both verbal and mental. "Furthermore, what are we going to do with the prisoners? This facility can hardly handle long-term imprisonment even if that were desirable under the circumstances." 

"I am uncertain just yet," Anderos said. "They should be given a fair chance to redeem themselves. Most of them, after all, didn't really understand how extreme Blake's long-term goals really were." 

Talia nodded. "I'm going to go check on Mike." She drained off the last of her tea and set it down on the table, and headed off into another room where Mike was being treated for his injuries sustained on planet Harris. Mike was laying on a cot with bandages wrapped around his leg. 

"How is he?" she asked Leah, the nurse. 

"He's been drifting in and out of sleep all day," Leah said quietly. "But I expect he'll make a full recovery. He just needs to stay off that leg for a few days. He's lucky it was only his leg. A wound like that to the head or torso would have killed him before anyone could get him to treatment." 

"Talia?" Mike grunted, stirring slightly. "Come over here." 

Talia went over by his side. "How are you feeling lately, Mike?" 

"Eh, I've been better." Mike gave a wide grin. "Don't you worry about me. I've been closer to death before, and I'm still alive." 

Talia smiled softly. "I know. Silly Death Dancers, though, always taking unnecessary risks." 

"Hey, I'm better than some," Mike said. "I believe the point of being a Death Dancer is to get into sticky situations and get out of them again, not charge headlong into stupid situations and get killed pointlessly because you didn't think things through first. The point is survival, and that's why I've survived this long." 

"That's why you went in to fight Blake by yourself?" Talia said with a smirk. 

"It seemed like a good idea at the time," Mike commented. "Well, I didn't actually realize it was him until I got around that corner. Lucky for me that he couldn't aim." 

"Yet he could pull the trigger faster than you?" Talia nudged him in the arm. 

"Yeah, them damn Koalas, they're quick little buggers." 

"I thought they were fairly lazy and sluggish." 

Mike gave a sort of shrug. "Whatever. So he caught me offguard. It probably shouldn't have happened. I made more mistakes that day than any Death Dancer has a right to, but it seems luck was looking out for me for once. And while I don't like to rely on luck, I'm not going to shirk it." 

"Well, either way, I hope you're back on your feet and barking orders again soon," Talia said. "We've got some prisoners and a scared little Koala we aren't sure what to do with. I also hope our scouts find Blake soon and are smart enough to stay alive and come back to tell us about it." 

Mike nodded. "I'm hungry. Is there _anything_ to eat but space rations?" 

"Nope, not really, sorry," Leah said. 

Mike sighed. "Fine, I'll have my tasteless nutrition bar now then, thanks." Leah passed one over to him and he began munching on it. "Talia, let me know the _minute_ any of those scouts come back with a positive, okay?" 

Talia nodded. "I will." 

"You aren't going anywhere with that leg of yours," Leah said. 

"I don't need to walk to fly," Mike said. "But I don't expect them back for a few days anyway, so don't worry so much, nurse." 

"Good," Leah said. "Now just take it easy and try to get some more rest." 

"Bah, fine." Mike said. "See you later, Talia." 

"Bye."


	44. Things Come Together.

Kalli was feeding Meg in her Sabre. A little starvation always made space rations go down better. She noticed a blip on her scanners as a Griffon was coming in. Maybe it was one of the scouts returning with news. "Stay in here where it's warm and finish your food," Kalli said, heading to the hatch to meet them outside. 

The Griffon landed near where the others were located a bit off to the side. The hatch opened and a young Death Dancer climbed out. One of Marina's wingmen no doubt, Kalli thought. Then he helped a young girl out of the back of the ship. She was dressed in a baggy flight suit clearly too big for her, and her ears marked her as an El'dari. 

"Hello," Kalli said, approaching. "I am Kalli May." 

"It is cold here," said the girl. 

Kalli smiled faintly. "Yes, yes it is. There's a shelter off this way that's heated if you'll follow me. It even has tea, but it's not very good tea." 

"Lead the way," the girl said. There was something about the commanding tone of her voice that struck Kalli as a bit odd. She put it aside and led them off to the shelter. 

Inside, Kalli poured them cups of hot tea and got one for herself. "I don't believe I caught your names." 

"I am Alisa," the girl said. 

"Lyle Hughes," said the Death Dancer. He tried to sip his tea carefully, but it was too hot so he just settled on warming his hands for now. 

"Have you made any progress toward neutralizing the thread of Blake?" Alisa asked. 

Kalli offered them seats and sat down herself. This was definitely a sitting matter. "We discovered his hideout on planet Harris a few days ago and made an assault on the base," Kalli said. 

"Is he dead, then?" Alisa wondered. 

Kalli shook her head. "He escaped the scene in an _extremely_ fast ship, it must have made point-six lightspeed in a matter of seconds! I've never seen anything that fast before. We did, however, destroy or capture his other Novas and shut down the other projects his scientist, Richard Penner, had going." 

"I must warn you," Alisa said, "The Chancellor intends to send an attack fleet into the system in an attempt to destroy you." 

"He does, does he?" Kalli drawled. "What makes him think he'll succeed?" 

"I am uncertain," Alisa answered. "Perhaps he intends to employ some sort of explosive device which could fit on a fighter and come through the jump holes." 

"Well, I don't intend to let him get close enough to try," Kalli said. "Bill! There are five usable jump holes into this system. I want each of them watched by at least one Nova at all times. Anyone leaving or entering the system must be identified and reported back to here." 

"Yes, ma'am," Bill said. He went to inform the pilots of this. 

"How many Novas do you have available?" Alisa asked. 

"Fifteen, right now. Blake had some completed Novas that were merely missing luminite crystals for their core at his base on planet Harris. It was a simple matter to install the crystals and make off with them in our latest survey of the place. We also have a team of scientists there trying to decipher Penner's laboratory experiments." 

Talia came out to get some more tea and paused in the doorway, an odd look on her face. "Am I interrupting anything?" 

"No, not at all," Kalli said. "Come in, Talia. I was just updating Alisa here on the situation." 

Alisa, likewise, glanced oddly at Talia. Kalli hoped that this wasn't some psyker thing she was missing out on, but Talia sat down and got herself the tea anyway. "I must say," Talia said, "I didn't expect to see you off Toronto anytime soon, and particularly not here." 

"You know each other?" Kalli said, quirking an eyebrow. 

"In a manner of speaking," Talia said cryptically. 

Alisa said, "Times change, and my life is in danger on Toronto. The Chancellor is out for my head, and I do not know why." 

"Join the club," Kalli said dryly. 

"It is a most puzzling predicament when those to whom one once believed were allies prove themselves instead to be traitors," Alisa commented sadly. "Furthermore, I may have reason to believe that it was he who was truly responsible for the deaths of my beloved parents." 

"He would _do_ such a thing?" Talia said. "I never thought him capable of that, but after our little encounter on Yukon Base, I wouldn't put anything past him anymore." 

"Talia," Kalli said quietly. "I feel like I'm out of the loop here. Did I miss something?" 

Talia smirked. "Yes, I think you did. Kalli, this is Alisa Ishiteki, Empress of the Karzan Empire." 

Kalli blinked for a moment, uncertain whether to bow, kneel, or apologize, and finally settled on just saying, "Oh." 

"And no one yet realizes that I am here," Alisa said. "I would prefer it to remain that way. Please inform only those higher ranking members of your organization who need to know of my presense." 

"Understood," Kalli said, "Your Highness." 

"And do please not go Your-Highnessing me or somebody will certainly notice," Alisa smirked. 

"Er, right," Kalli said. "Although I do believe your manner of speaking will give away something is odd pretty easily, as well." 

"I do see your point," Alisa said. "No matter. No doubt Toronto has already been informed that I am either missing or dead by now. By whatever monstrous tale that the Chancellor has concocted in my absense, whether it be of my regretful death or my condemnable kidnapping." 

"I doubt the Chancellor's ships will be able to get into this system, past the guards I ordered set," Kalli said. "One Nova can defeat an entire fleet of fighters, or hold them off long enough for backup to arrive in a worst case scenerio." 

"As you say," Alisa said. "What of Blake?" 

"We'll know as soon as our scouts return with his location," Kalli said. She sipped her tea, which had cooled too much during their conversation and was now little more than lukewarm. 

Derek came in through the door. "Kalli! Talia! One of the scouts has just arrived. They've found Blake. He's in Tasmania." 

"I'll let Mike know," Talia said, heading back to the makeshift infirmiry. 

"We're going to have to deal with this ASAP," Kalli said. "He must not be allowed to escape this time. But neither can we leave the system defenseless while we're gone, with the Chancellor wanting to attack us." She was instantly grateful for Alisa's warning. Otherwise, they might have taken all the Novas and done just that. "We will take five Novas, with our best pilots." 

"And that means me," said Mike's voice from the infirmiry door. He was leaning heavily on a crutch and had his leg still up in bandages. 

"Damnit, Mike," Kalli said. "If you're coming you'd better well stay in your ship. Leah will have a fit if you go running around on that leg again." 

"I will, I will," Mike said impatiently. 

Alisa asked, "Will it remain safe on this planet without your presense?" 

Kalli said, "With ten Novas staying behind to protect the planet and the jump holes being watched, it should be as safe as you could possibly get around here." 

Derek stared at Alisa for a moment, then knelt before her. "Your Highness, it was not my intention to betray you. The Chancellor--" 

"I understand about the Chancellor," Alisa interrupted. "That you are here indicates that you are not truly a traitor. The ones who fired upon me on the Chancellor's orders when we were leaving the Toronto system, however, are." 

"Please forgive me, Your Highness." 

"I shall grant you a full pardon upon return to Toronto once the Chancellor is deposed. Please stand." 

"Thank you, Empress." Derek stood slowly. 

"Kalli. Myself. Warren. Marina. Derek," Mike rattled off the names. "Those are our best pilots. Let's go." Mike hobbled toward the exterior door. 

Kalli went and contacted Warren and Marina and they climbed into their Novas and headed at full speed for the jump hole to the Tau system. It wasn't until they were in Tau that Kalli heard a squeaking sound from the back of the ship, and realized she had forgotten about Meg, who had curled up in the back and fallen asleep. 

"Come sit with me, Meg," Kalli said. "We're going to find Donovan."


	45. And So It Goes.

Pete did a diagnostic check on the Supernova. The enhancements Richard Penner had made to the Nova's design had increased its speed, shielding, and weapons power, to be sure, but at the expense of accuracy and control. Furthermore, there were numerous problems with it that kept cropping up that hadn't appeared in the original Nova design, or only to a lesser extent. 

As he walked across to the back of the ship, he suddenly fell onto the ceiling. For instance, he thought to himself, the gravity doesn't work right. Muttering to himself, he made his way to the back of the ship, falling back onto the floor a meter away, and tried to fix the gravity so that it at least agreed on which direction was "down" most of the time. 

Pete silently cursed Richard and Donovan for being inside that old abandoned mining base, where the gravity, lighting, and heating all worked properly, leaving him out here to make repairs on the Supernova. Considering all the crap that had happened to the others, he thought he'd stand a better chance of survival at this rate if he just made off with the Supernova and left the other two stranded here. No, they'd probably find another way offworld if they wanted to. Some of the lesser ships had escaped the assault on their base on planet Harris and might show up. Pete doubted it, though. A good way to stay alive was to not be associated with Donovan Blake. The Death Dancers would find them soon. They couldn't hide forever. 

He finished making his adjustments, and his lower half promptly dropped away, leaving him hanging from the floor. The ship had agreed that the ceiling was "down", apparently. With a sigh, he poked around with his tools at the equipment some more, trying to convince it otherwise. 

"Why did I ever sign up for this line of work?" Pete muttered to himself. "Right, it was the pay." 

If there was one thing about Donovan Blake, at least he paid well. What good was a pile of credits if he weren't alive to spend it, though? Maybe it was time to cut his losses and take a nice, long vacation to Tahiti. Assuming there wasn't already a bounty on his head for crimes against the Empire or something. This deal was quickly turning sour and he couldn't really blame everyone for taking their pay and running. Donovan was running short on allies now. His time was short. 

Pete finally managed to repair the artificial gravity generators and settled firmly on the floor. So what if gravity was now a little heavier than it should be? At least it was decidedly going the right direction now. 

He went over to the pilot's seat and noticed a blip on the scanners. A Death Dancer in a Griffon, he noted upon identifying it. And it was coming this way, too. Had the Death Dancers sent out scouts to find them? He figured it was a good time to talk things over. Pete switched on the comm. 

"Death Dancer ship, this is Peter Bush. Please identify yourself." 

"This is Neil Paskins," came the reply. "What are you doing out here? This old mining base has been abandoned for years." 

"Had some ship problems," Pete said. "Just got the artificial gravity fixed again. It kept insisting that the ceiling was 'down'." 

"You need a hand there, or you got it under control?" asked Neil. "Whoa. What kind of ship _is_ that?" 

"Oh, this?" Pete said. "This here is the Supernova. And any help would be appreciated muchly, yes." 

"On my way," Neil replied. The Griffon on the scanner came in to the asteroid and landed nearby, then came over into the Supernova while Pete tried to fix the navigation computer. Neil was a young man in a flight jacket with the red Death Dancer symbol sewn on his pocket. "What do you mean _the_ Supernova? I've never heard of it." 

"Well, it's the only one of its kind," Pete commented. "And it's got more bugs than a cheap spotel in the slums of Terra. This damned navigation computer, for instance, thinks we're in Tahiti. Man, I'd _rather_ be in Tahiti." 

"It's an experimental ship?" Neil asked. Pete nodded. "Who built it? You?" 

"Nah," Pete said. "If I had, it would work properly! The arse who built it is inside." He pointed a thumb toward the old mining facility. 

Neil helped with repairing things for several minutes before several blips suddenly appeared on long range sensors. "Uh-oh," Pete muttered. "Looks like we've got company. Five of 'em." 

"Who is it?" Neil said, standing. He came over and looked at the scanner readout. "Novas? _Death Dancers_? What's going on here?" 

"The Nova is the design this ship is based off, obviously," Pete muttered. "They're heading straight this way. I'll try to hail them." He flipped on the comm and sent a signal to the Novas. "Death Dancer ships, this is Peter Bush. What is your purpose here?" 

A minute or two later, the reply came back. "We seek Donovan Blake." 

Pete said, "He is inside the old mining facility on this asteroid." 

"We're coming in to land." 

"Please, be my guest," Pete said. "I'll make tea!" A panel inside the Supernova fell off and clattered to the floor. "Okay, maybe not." 

Neil went back and tried to repair the panel. Pete switched off the comm. "Maybe if they're shooting at Donny they'll be not shooting at me," he said lightly. 

"Did I miss something here?" Neil asked. "Who is Donovan Blake?" 

"Oh, he's a megalomaniac psychotic Koala who is trying, not very successfully, to take over the galaxy," Pete said. "Nobody important, really." 

Pete went and climbed out of the Supernova and into the docking area. The place was large as it had been often used as a loading facility for transports, but the gravity there was minimal and it was something of a disorientation after the too-heavy gravity on the Supernova. 

"You'll make tea, huh?" It was Donovan Blake, with a blaster in his hand. "You're a backstabbing traitor, just like the rest of them. The ones who didn't come back. You, too, shall die!" 

Pete leaped into the air an instant before the energy beam streaked right where his body was and harmlessly striking the Supernova's dense hull. He instantly became grateful for the low gravity in the docking bay. Pete landed on top of the Supernova and had to duck past another blast and tumbled over to the other side to shield himself with the ship. 

"What is going on out there?" Neil said from inside the ship. 

The five Novas were coming in for a landing in the mining station's docking bay. Pete wished he had a weapon to shoot back with, but figured it was for the best if he didn't want the Death Dancers to think he was with Blake. He continued frantically trying to stay out of the way of the weapon blasts. When the Novas landed and the Dancers of Death climbed out, however, Blake stopped shooting and ducked back into the room. 

"That crazy bloody Koala," Pete muttered, climbing out from under the Supernova. Neil tossed him a blaster. "Thanks." 

"Now will somebody please explain what's going on here?" Neil demanded. 

"That voice," said one of the Death Dancers quietly. "Neil? Is that you?" He approached the Supernova. 

"Father!" Neil cried. "What are you doing here?" 

"I was about to ask you the same thing." 

Pete said, "I hate to break up this touching reunion, but there's a psychotic Koala in there meaning to blow us all to kingdom come. Can we get on with this?" 

"Well," said another of the Death Dancers, "just so long as Penner doesn't spontaneously invent a teleporter to take them out of here or a large explosive to blow up the entire asteroid, we should be okay." 

"I wouldn't put it past him," Pete said. He gripped his blaster and looked at the door. This was crazy. He should just let the Death Dancers do the suicidal job of putting Blake down and get out of here while he still could. Then he spotted a very familiar female Koala crawl out of one of the Novas. "Meg? What the-- You're alive?" 

"Donovan abandoned me," Meg said sadly. 

"He thought you were dead." 

"He left me there to die," she said tearfully. "I don't want to die." 

Meg was such a sweet little Koala, and Donovan had never mistreated her, except that he was maybe a bit overprotective of her. She had a blaster though, and wielded it clumsily. Before anyone could stop her, she rushed past Pete and to the door. 

The door opened and a blast of energy struck her in the chest.


	46. People Randomly Die.

"Meg!" screamed Kalli. She rushed toward the doorway, firing her blaster, but her shots went high and struck the door instead. 

"Oh my god," Donovan said, stumbling back. "Meg, no..." 

"Donovan Blake," Kalli said. "It's the end of the line." 

Suddenly, there was a loud hum that accelerated into a high-pitched whine. She stumbled as the ground suddenly seemed to shift to the left and almost fell over. Kalli grabbed a hold of the doorframe to keep herself from falling. 

"What the buttsex?" Derek said. 

Kalli peered over the doorframe and into the room. There was a large device inside, an oddly phallic shaped instrument about two meters long, with a ring around the head that was glowing blue. Richard Penner was standing on a platform beside the contraption, apparently unaffected by the sudden shift in gravity. Donovan likewise appeared unaffected, but he was too dazed to do anything about it. 

"I'll deal with this," Marina said from behind her. Although Pete and the other Death Dancers were being flung about by the gravity changes, Marina was hovering in mid-air. Kalli was thankful that the ships were also unaffected by the device. They had their own gravity generators which were usually only switched off to conserve energy when on a planet. 

"How?" Kalli asked. 

"Grav-boots," Marina said. She pushed off from her ship and flew through the air to the doorway. Marina landed at the doorframe and grabbed onto it with one hand and began firing into the room with her blaster in her other hand. 

Kalli tried to bring around her own weapon to help, but ended up flung back toward one of the ships. She resolved that she couldn't do this like this and climbed inside where the ship's gravity took over, and tried to watch. 

Marina fired a few more shots then sprung off from the doorframe into the room. After a moment, Pete fell to the floor. "I hate gravity," Pete muttered. Kalli climbed out of the ship to find the gravity returned to normal. Marina must have gotten in to deactivate the device. She went over to the doorway. 

Donovan Blake lay in the middle of the floor sprawled out, burns all over his body and blackening his gray fur. Richard Penner was laying against the wall on the far side of the room, blaster burns across his chest. Neither of them showed any sign of movement. Penner's last invention stood silent as a testiment to their deaths. 

"They're dead," Kalli said. 

Pete came up behind her. "Damn. Dick could never make a gravity generator that worked properly, but he sure could mess it up right good when he put his mind to it." 

Kalli looked down sadly at Meg's body, which had been flung into a corner with Penner's gravity shifting. She stood there silently uncertain what to think of all this death. The death of one person she barely knew had affected her more deeply than the deaths of thousands of people. She had to wonder what might have been between Meg and Donovan had things been just a little different. 

The others set about dismantling the gravity device, leaving Kalli to her musings. A Death Dancer must see a lot of death in a lifetime. They must lose many close friends over the years. But she could not bring herself to celebrate the deaths of those who were not Death Dancers, and did not want to die. The ones who might not even realize the inherent risks in what they were doing. Meg was innocent. She never saw it coming. 

"Kalli?" Mike said. "We're done here. We should go now." 

Kalli nodded numbly and climbed back into her ship. Seven ships lifted out of the docking bay and headed in formation back toward the jump hole to the Oregon system. 

"I didn't realize you'd become a Death Dancer, dad," Neil said over the comm. 

Derek said, "Well, let's just say things have been changing lately. I never realized what a crazy galaxy it really is that we live in before." 

"People die senselessly, for no reason," Kalli said quietly. "While others live..." 

"Yeah," Pete agreed. "I have no idea how I got out of this all alive. I was sure somebody would off me for having worked for Donovan Blake." 

"Why _did_ you sign up with that nut, anyway?" Mike asked. 

"He paid well," Pete replied. "His offers of credits attracted many followers. Who were quick to take the money and run when things got a bit rough." 

"Well, he's dead now," Marina said. "One less problem in the galaxy." 

"But how many more do you suppose there are just like him?" Derek said. "With money to spare and no morals." 

"Possibly," Mike said. "But they wouldn't have a man like Richard Penner working for them." 

"Dick was a genius," Pete said. "Even if he couldn't get his gravity generators to work right. I can't believe some of the things he managed. I don't know why he worked for Donny, though. Maybe he was just manipulating him to take over himself. I don't know. Maybe we'll never know, now." 

Mike said, "Yeah. Marina, why didn't you just stun them so we could question them or something?" 

"I didn't realize there was any questioning that needed to be done," Marina said. "They're out of the way, now, at least. And the galaxy is safe again." 

"Except for the Chancellor," Kalli said quietly. 

"We shall require deposing him in some manner," Warren said. 

Derek said, "No kidding. Maybe the Empress has a plan." 

"The Empress?" Marina said in confusion. "Aren't we heading back to Siberia, not Toronto?" 

Kalli said, "Empress Alisa is on Siberia. The Chancellor tried to kill her." 

" _What_!?" Marina said. 

"Getting Blake out of the way as soon as possible was priority, though," Kalli said. "Now, I suppose, dealing with the Chancellor will be our next mission." 

"But I thought you guys were pirates," Marina said. 

"Oh, don't worry, Marina," Mike said. "You don't need to try to hide it. We knew who you really worked for from the minute you arrived. I had our psyker scan you to see whose side you were on." 

"Er. Oh. Then you really are, after all..." 

"We're the good guys," Kalli said. "Really." 

"Even if it doesn't quite.. look like it at times," Mike added. 

"If you say so," Marina said.


	47. More Random People Die.

Talia was on watch in one of the Novas watching the jump hole to the Coventry system. She was dozing a bit reading an old novel set on ancient Terra, written by one Stephen King centuries ago. If they were coming, they'd suspected that the attack would most likely take place through the Transylvania jump hole, but Coventry wasn't ruled out as it was a fair secondary option. 

However, it appeared that this was their option of choice when a number of Barracudas, Sabres, and Sharks began to pour out of the jump hole and began to fire on her before she could demand that they identify themselves. She dropped the data pad and began evasive maneuvers quickly. 

She opened up a signal to the nearest patrol. "Coventry jump hole. Military attack. Need immediate backup!" She also sent a message back to base that she was under attack, but it wouldn't get there for almost an hour. 

Talia fired back on the ships as some of them broke off and headed toward the planet. She focused her fire on them to try to keep them from getting close to Siberia. Even if they got too close though, she though, they'd be intercepted by ships coming from the planet. 

Flitting back and forth to avoid getting hit by too many of their shots faster than her shields could regenerate, Talia was glad for the Nova's maneuverability. Combined with the power of the weapons she was able to destroy a good portion of the ships before her backup arrived. Some of the ships had slipped past her guard and were torn apart by the Ravens before they reached the jump hole. 

"Glad you could make it so quickly," Talia said over the comm. 

"We were on patrol near here, fortunately," their leader replied. "The Barracudas that tried to run the blockade were destroyed before getting very far." 

"Let's deal with the rest of them," Talia said. "Unless they decide to have a change of heart." 

"Never," replied one of the Barracudas. 

"Didn't think so," Talia said. "Bye now." She fired on him and destroyed the ship in a couple shots. "Anyone else have similar feelings?" 

The Military fighters continued to insist on fighting, and fight they did. They were systematically destroyed one by one, but some of the Ravens were damaged or destroyed in the fray. Talia's head ached with the deaths around her, but it was nothing she couldn't handle. She blocked out the pain and set about finishing her task here. 

When the remaining Military fighters were destroyed, the Ravens that were still intact broke off and returned to Siberia for repairs. "All clear at Coventry," Talia reported over the comm, sending a message back to base stating as much. 

Things had quieted down and Talia resumed reading her book and watching the jump hole for any further activity. Some while later, another Nova came to relieve her. "I caught a few Military ships on the way here, but I destroyed them," said the other Nova. "Reports indicate that they attacked all five jump holes at once. We fought them off though. You should head back to base and get some rest." 

"Great," Talia said. "Thanks. See you later." She turned her Nova and headed back to planet Siberia. 

Talia was suddenly glad that Kalli had ordered all five jump holes watched and not just the ones most likely to launch an attack from. That they had gone all the way around to Burgundy to attack them and then came through at apparently the same time indicated a good deal of planning and coordination on their part. She was glad that their own preparation had been sufficient. 

She finished reading her novel on the way back, and came in to land at base. It was beginning to look like a real base now. The engineers had been working hard to make it habitable and should be commended, she thought. The landing platform was still out in the open and cold, but at least there was an actual landing platform now. 

Talia climbed out of her Nova and headed into the base and to the room that they had made their makeshift command room. Empress Alisa was there, a Death Dancer on either side of her, as well as Anderos and two of the killer bunnies. 

"Talia!" Anderos said as she grabbed some tea and sat down. "Have you heard about the attacks yet?" 

"I was posted at the Coventry jump hole," Talia said. "I did hear about them though." 

"How did it go out there?" Anderos asked. 

"We lost a few at Coventry," Talia said ruefully. "And several ships sustained heavy damage. But we did destroy the fleet. The ships that slipped through were destroyed by another Nova on the way from the planet." 

"You have done well," Empress Alisa said. "When the others return from their mission to neutralize Donovan Blake, we must coordinate a strike against the Chancellor." 

"This won't be easy, if he's got the Military on his side," Talia said. "We may need to make a more covert operation." 

"The Chancellor is a psyker, though," Anderos said. "That may be difficult to accomplish even for another psyker." 

"I know the perfect person to do it, however," Talia said. "Kalli May." 

Anderos considered this for a moment, then nodded faintly. "Yes, that could work." 

"Why would Kalli's chances of success be higher?" Alisa asked. 

"Kalli is psi-blind," Talia said. "Completely. Psykers can't read her at all. Furthermore, she's less likely to be recognized than myself or Anderos in such a situation. With luck and proper preparation, she may be able to get in completely undetected." 

Alisa nodded. "Once she infiltrates the vicinity, how would she accomplish disposing of the Chancellor?" 

"Poison?" Anderos suggested. "Less chance of being detected than just shooting at him, to be sure." 

"We shall discuss this matter further once Kalli has returned from her mission," Alisa said. 

"Do you think the Chancellor will attempt to send another attack now that this one has failed?" Anderos asked. 

"It is doubtful," Alisa said. "However, it would be prudent to maintain the watch over the jump holes irregardless." 

"Will do," Talia said. At least it gave her a chance to catch up on her reading, and it wasn't like there was much else to do around here anyway. "I need rest now, myself." She stood up slowly. 

"Sleep well," Alisa said. Talia nodded her head to her as she headed out, grabbing a bit of ration to munch on on the way to sleep.


	48. Back to the Frigid Wasteland.

The five Novas, Supernova, and one Griffon came in through the Tau jump hole into the Siberia system. Kalli had been fairly quiet the entire way. They passed a Nova stationed there, who said, "Good to see you back. I'll notify base that you're here." 

The small fleet headed back toward planet Siberia. They came in and set down on the landing platform at the base and disembarked from their ships. "Nice to see that it's still freezing cold here," commented Derek. 

"Let's get inside, they'll be waiting for us," Mike said, heading into the base. 

Kalli trailed along behind them as they filed inside. She grabbed herself a cup of hot tea before going into the next room. Then she meandered in last, staring into her drink. 

"There you are, Kalli," Talia said. "Sit down, we have things to discuss." Kalli sat down without making a reply, swirling around her tea a bit and wishing that they had some nice sugar or cream available here. 

"Report?" Alisa said. 

"Mission accomplished," Mike said. "Donovan Blake and Richard Penner are both dead." 

"Excellent," Alisa said. "Now, we must deal with the Chancellor. Anderos?" 

Anderos nodded. "We decided that a sole operative stood a better chance of getting in and succeeding in this task than sending in a fleet of Novas would. We don't want to have to resort to direct force. Furthermore, we determined that the one person who has the best chance of accomplishing this mission, is Kalli May." 

Kalli glanced up at him, startled. "Me?" 

"The Chancellor being a psyker and having psykers working for him, you're the only one who can really get in undetected," Anderos said. 

Kalli nodded slightly. It would be dangerous, to be sure. It may very well get her killed or require killing many people. But she was a Dancer on the Edge of Death. And it might well be their only chance of ending this otherwise. "I'll do it." 

There was something about the Empress that she could not explain that inspired absolute loyalty. "Excellent," said Empress Alisa. "You shall depart as soon as possible, in a Griffon so as not to attract undue attention." 

Anderos said. "It may be prudent to carry alternate means of disposing of the Chancellor in the event anything goes wrong. Poison, weapons, whatever you think you can get away with." 

Kalli nodded. "I'll leave first thing in the morning. I'll need to rest and prepare first." 

Alisa nodded. "See to it." She pulled something out of a pocket. "You might need this, as well." 

Kalli nodded and stood up, taking the small object. It was a signet ring with the royal insignia wrought in gold on it. She bowed to the Empress and headed out to collect what she might need for this special assignment. She had to wonder why she had agreed to this in the first place, but she was the only one who could do it, and she had better do it right. 

She acquired poisons, knives, concealed blasters, Marina even let her borrow her gravity boots. Everything she asked for was granted without question. Rank among the pirates was a fluid thing, and wasn't granted so much as earned through respect and heroism. After the destruction of Dracula Base and her actions there, no one here was willing to say no to her anymore. No matter how unusual the request. 

Once she had everything she thought she needed, she went out to her ship for some much-needed sleep. After sleeping, she got up and collected her things and headed inside for some breakfast. She ran into Talia there. 

"Hey," Talia said. "Since you're taking a Griffon, it may help if somebody other than you knew the password to your Nova." 

"Right," Kalli said, pouring herself some tea and grabbing a ration. "It's 'Hamilton wood snake'." 

Hmm, she thought to herself, remembering the snake she had handled back on Hamilton. If they were really as deadly as Mike claimed... After eating, she collected a few more items. Some tough gloves that didn't hinder her movement much, but would protect her hands and forearms against piercing. Just in case. 

Kalli headed out to the Griffon that she was to take, and found Mike there waiting for you. "Hey Kalli," he said, leaning over to kiss her. "Get back here in one piece, you hear?" 

"I'll try," she said, grinning, kissing him back. "Don't have too much fun here while I'm gone. If you want, you could probably escort me as far as Tasmania." 

"Going around that way, eh?" Mike said. "Nah. It's probably raining on Tasmania anyway. Although maybe stopping to ogle the Lesbians on the way, hmm." 

"I'm not going through Lesbia," Kalli said. "I'm stopping at Hamilton first." 

"Hamilton?" Mike said, quirking an eyebrow. "Maybe I'll accompany you after all. What are you going to Hamilton for, anyhow?" 

"Are those snakes really as deadly as you said they were?" Kalli said. 

"Would I lie to you?" Mike said with a smile. "Yeah. They're one of the deadliest snakes in the galaxy. Why, are you planning to-- oooh. Nice plan there." 

Kalli grinned. She loaded up her things into the Griffon and checked to make sure its map and database were relatively complete. "Shall we be off, then?" 

"Sure thing. I'll take a Griffon myself so that the Empire doesn't get any hint that we have operation in that area." Mike went and commandeered a Griffon for himself, and they were off. 

The two of them flew out from the atmosphere of Siberia and made for the jump hole to the Tau system yet again. This run was beginning to get rather familiar. Mike agreed to remain in Hamilton for the interim while she was in Toronto, but she couldn't guarentee that she'd be able to make it out that way again. 

They reached the jump hole to the Tau system and headed inside. Kalli smoothly navigated the twists and turns of the tunnel before they came out to the other side-- looking straight at a Military battleship. 

"Shit!" Kalli cried, swiftly dodging the incoming blasts from the enormous ship. 

"Back in the jump hole!" Mike barked over the comm. Kalli didn't need to be told twice. She spun her Griffon around straight back into the jump hole. 

The two of them emerged on the other side again. "Is there a problem?" asked the Nova stationed there. 

"There's a Military battleship sitting right in front of the mouth of the jump hole!" Mike replied. 

"That's... not good," replied the Nova. 

Mike sent a message back to base and said, "What are we going to do now, Kalli?" 

"If they have a battleship here," Kalli said, "they no doubt have them in front of the other ones as well. No point in blocking one if they don't block them all. Does the base have enough food to sustain itself?" 

"Not yet," the guard replied. "They've been working on getting biodomes set up, but they're relying mainly on space rations for the moment." 

"Will they be able to survive on space rations until the biodomes are ready?" 

"Maybe." 

Mike said, "Kalli, they've been notified of it. They have the Novas available if they really need to deal with it. You've got your own mission to take care of." 

"You should stay to help here," Kalli said. "I'll be alright." 

"Fine," Mike said. "Can you get past that battleship?" 

"It'll take some tricky flying, but I think I can make it." 

"Alright. I'll head back to base. Good luck, Kalli." 

"Goodbye, Mike." Kalli turned her ship and headed back into the jump hole. 

She forced herself to relax as she made her way through the tunnel again. She had been genetically engineered for quick reflexes and good perception. And the Griffon was one of the lightest and fastest ships available. That was all she had to rely on to get her out of this alive. 

Once out of the jump hole, Kalli immediately spun into action. Her fingers moved quick as lightning across the controls as the little Griffon darted this way and that, dodging the powerful energy blasts from the battleship _Churchill_. The ship had massively powerful weapons, but they took a few seconds to charge enough to make a shot, so it was easy to tell where the next shot would be coming from if she paid attention. 

To give her more trouble, the battleship released a wing of fighters to take her down after they found that they couldn't hit her. She headed at full speed away from the battleship and in the direction of the jump hole to the Oregon system. The Barracudas couldn't quite keep up with her, but this ship had Ravens with it as well. She hadn't seen the Military actually use Ravens before and was a bit startled by it. 

Five Ravens were on her tail, and she couldn't shake them. Once sufficiently far away from the battleship that she didn't think it could get its shots off from this distance, she engaged them in battle, firing upon the Ravens. But this diversion was allowing the Barracudas to catch up. She had to do this quickly. 

With speed and agility, Kalli managed to destroy the five Ravens as the Barracudas came into range. Then she broke off and shot off into the darkness toward the jump hole again. The Barracudas tried to stay on her tail for a while, but fell back shortly. She was free of them. 

They no doubt knew just where she was going, she thought. It would probably have been more prudent to get out of the system through another route to throw them off. There was no help for that now, though. She just had to keep going and get where she had to go. Much as she might like to rest along the way, she'd have to set up alarms to sleep onboard so that she could fly non-stop. It was going to be a long, lonely journey.


	49. Battleships, Battleships, Everywhere. Except There.

Mike landed back on Siberia and headed into the command room. The Empress was not present at the moment. She was likely asleep. "I hope Kalli makes it," he said. "Right now, we need to deal with that blockade." 

"We received your message," Talia said. "What are we going to do about this? We don't have enough food to last here for more than a week or two without supplies from outside." 

"There is no jump gate to the Burgundy system," Mike said. "But it's pretty damned remote out there. Still, someone _could_ manage to go through Burgundy and through the fringe systems and get around to Balzac or somewhere again for supplies." 

"Wait a minute," Talia said. "If nobody lives out there, there has to be a reason for it. The Primos spread wherever they reasonably can." 

Mike brought up a map of the galaxy and zoomed in on that section. "Past Burgundy, it would require going through Gamma, Theta, and Epsilon to reach Balzac," he said, pointing to each one in turn. "They're only refered to by those designations because they were too dangerous for more than a brief survey team to go through." 

"I knew there was a catch," Talia said. 

"Nevertheless, under the circumstances, we still may be able to get a convoy through there safely," Mike said. "The radiation levels in the Gamma system should be minimal of we avoid the inner part of the system." 

"Radiation," Talia said lightly. "What fun. What else is out there?" 

Mike pointed at the next system. "Theta is pretty benign, but not particularly interesting. No planets, no useful resources, nothing." He pointed at the third one. "Epsilon, however, probably isn't the kind of place you want to hang around for very long. It's a neutron star." 

"That should be fun, too," Talia commented. 

"Yeah," Mike said. "But it's the only way to get to Balzac without going through any of the other four systems or going weeks out of the way, by which time it'd be too late." 

"You're going to do this?" Talia asked. 

Mike nodded. "However. I don't think a freighter would be able to get through there, especially through Epsilon. Of all our ships, I think only the Novas are tough enough to withstand the radiation and gravity pressures for an extended period of time." 

"The Novas can't carry as much as the fighters, though," Talia said. 

"And all things considered," added Anderos, "we _do_ have the Novas, after all. Why can't we just destroy one of the battleships with them and get through that way?" 

"I'd like to try to avoid that if at all possible," Mike said. "I'm not too keen on the idea of needlessly killing hundreds of thousands of people, even if they _are_ Primos. Not to mention the residual radiation levels from a reactor breach the size of the ones on a battleship." 

"Can we _fit_ enough food on five or even ten Novas to sustain us until the biodomes are ready?" Talia asked. 

"Bill," Mike said. "Do some calculations." 

Bill nodded and pulled out a data pad, and crunched through some numbers. "Five Novas would not be enough," he concluded shortly. "Ten, maybe. You'd have to fill up the cockpit too to bring enough." 

"Put everyone on half rations," Mike said. "We'll manage." 

"Isn't there _anywhere_ else we can get food from?" Anderos asked. 

"Not really, no," Mike said. "We could go through Burgundy to Coventry, but that jump hole is probably guarded as well. They wouldn't expect us to go this way." 

"Because it's insane?" Talia said. 

"Exactly. And the only other stable jump holes out from Burgundy just lead further into uninhabited space. We could end up having to go even further around before reaching a system we could obtain food in." 

"Fine," Talia said. "I'm going with you." 

"Talia?" said Anderos. 

"Someone needs to do it, and I'm going batty stuck in this system," Talia said. 

"Your choice," Mike said. "Bill, get the Novas arranged in new shifts, covered by two pilots and trading off with the Supernova." Bill nodded. 

"We also still have some scientists and a couple pilots stuck on planet Harris at Blake's old base," Anderos said. 

"They'll manage," Mike said. "At least they've got access to the outside from there." 

"And waht about Kalli?" Talia asked. 

"She'll manage!" Mike sighed. "I damn well hope so." 

He turned to head outside to the landing platform to spread the word about what he was planning on doing and recruiting eight more pilots. One person per ship would mean more room in the cockpit for supplies and half the food consumption on the way there and back. He had never actually been into these systems himself, but the map with the jump hole locations should be accurate as he's gotten it from a Death Dancer who _had_ been out there. Not all Death Dancers led a life of combat, after all. Some of them prefered to explore uncharted and dangerous areas of space, bringing back stories and pictures of the experience. 

"Well, are we ready to go yet?" said Jake. 

"What, you're coming too?" Mike asked. "Not scared, are you?" He grinned faintly. 

"Nah," Jake said. "I'm certain if you say it's safe, it must be _perfectly_ safe. But anyway, I'm not much use here if I can't bring in supplies. Bloody battleships." 

"Heh," Talia said, coming up beside them. "It'll be like old times." 

"Which old times?" Jake asked. "You mean the time Mike almost got me killed? Wait, I remember several times Mike almost got me killed." 

Mike snickered. "Come on, let's get going. We'll have plenty of time to chat on the way there." 

They climbed into the Novas, Talia taking Kalli's Nova since she was the only one that knew the password for it, and departed from planet Siberia, the other seven ships not far behind them. They took a formation and headed straight for the jump hole to the Burgundy system. At least if they met anything hostile on the other side, there was more than enough firepower between them to take care of it. 

"I suppose, though, if they get desparate for food, they can always start roasting each other with their blasters," Mike commented lightly. 

"Don't remind me," Talia said. "That little incident almost made me want to be a vegetarian." 

"Space rations can't really be classified as vegetable matter, though," Jake commented. 

"Whatever."


	50. Did You Ever Notice Most of This Novel Involves Flying From One Place To Another?

Kalli flew on through the Oregon system. Much as she'd like to stop for a while, she couldn't afford the risk of the Military ships catching up to her if they were pursuing her. Besides, there wasn't anyone on planet Oregon except some hippies and environmentalists. They'd apparently come out here to get away from it all. They succeeded. The environmentalists had managed to halt the plans to construct a gate to the Oregon system on some claim that the fragile indigenous life of Oregon would be destroyed if the planet were overrun by humans. Which was rather a moot point when Primos overran just about everywhere they went to anyway. 

She reached Tasmania without harassment, dozing on and off as she continued onward. Much as she was proud of being a Death Dancer, she decided it was prudent to fake her registry signal to claim she was a Glyphan instead. As she passed near Tasmania, a Military patrol intercepted her. 

"Glyphan Griffon-- man that sounds stupid --please identify yourself and state your destination," said one of the patrol ships over the comm. 

"I am Megan Pratt," Kalli lied. "I am travelling from the Oregon system back home to Darwin." She hadn't really planned on using an alias, but figured it likewise prudent just in case they had her name on file. 

"Why were you in the Oregon system?" 

"I was searching for inspiration from the peaceful environment," Kalli replied. 

"Bloody Glyphans," the Barracuda muttered. "You may proceed." 

"Have a nice day," Kalli said, moving on toward the jump gate to the Darwin system. She was glad to be able and expected to use a jump gate for once-- it would, after all, look strange if she'd gone toward the jump hole to Darwin instead. Confident that she had lost anyone that might be following her, she flew on to Darwin. 

She really ought to keep on the move and get to Hamilton before resting, but the prospect of a real bed and food that had a taste to it was tempting. Finally she decided to head on down toward the planet to the Glyphan complex in the eastern hemisphere. It would support her ruse if she landed there, anyway. 

Once on the surface, she climbed out with a yawn and a stretch. She was also wearing clothing that didn't openly display her Death Dancer insignia, so unless they recognized her from her brief visits before, even they shouldn't know the difference. 

A random Kangaroo approached her. "Hail Glyphan sister! Please come and share our food and beds." 

She suddenly felt a bit bad about misleading them like this, but accepted their hospitality. They had offered it readily enough to them as non-members before, after all, she told herself. 

Over dinner, one of the Glyphans asked her, "So, Megan, what is your Art?" 

"I'm, er, writing a novel," Kalli replied. 

"Really," he said. "What's it about?" 

"It's about a group of Death Dancers that fly around the galaxy blowing things up," Kalli said. 

"That sounds interesting. How far are you into it?" 

"Oh, around sixty thousand words," Kalli threw out at random. 

"Nice," he said. "I'd like to read it whenever you get done with it." 

"Yeah, sure," Kalli said. "I should get some sleep. I'm going to be leaving first thing in the morning." 

"Where are you going?" he asked. 

"Heading up to Hamilton." 

"Why are you going there? You could get hurt." 

"Research," Kalli said. "I have to make it authentic, after all." 

"Oh, okay. Be careful out there." 

"Will do. Thanks for the food. Good night." She headed off to sleep. Then she decided it would probably be best if she bathed first, and took care of that, _then_ slept. 

In the morning, which actually turned out to be mid-afternoon, she headed out to her Griffon and set out from Darwin toward the jump gate to Gaytopia. Using the jump gates, she was able to get to New Scotland and to the jump gate to Hamilton in a much shorter time than it would have taken using the jump holes. Hiding in plain sight, it was so obvious she wondered why she hadn't thought of it before. 

"Glyphan ship, please identify yourself and state your purpose in going to Hamilton," said the battleship that was station at the Hamilton jump gate over the comm. 

"My name is Megan Pratt. I am doing research on Hamilton wood snakes for my novel," Kalli replied smoothly. 

"Couldn't you just get that information from a data bank?" 

"I have obtained some information, to be sure," Kalli said. "But I need to make my novel authentic, and I can't capture that feeling from raw data. They say you should write what you know, after all." 

"Whatever," came the reply. "You scan clean. Proceed, but be careful for the guerillas. They don't like outsiders." 

"Thank you," she said, heading into the jump gate. On the other side, she had to repeat her story for the units stationed there. 

"Crazy Glyphans," they said. "You'd best keep your side arm handy if you go down there." 

"Thanks for the advice," she said, heading to the planet. This was easier than she'd thought it would be. They had expected a Death Dancer sneaking around behind their backs, not a Glyphan flying around in plain sight. Even the guerillas didn't hassle her as she landed smoothly in a clearing in the jungle. 

Kalli pulled on her gloves and mask, and made sure they met up snugly with her jacket. She was confident around snakes, and dealing with one of them wasn't so tough, but it would be tougher to deal with five or six of them. Grabbing her hand scanner and side arm, she headed out of the ship and began searching for snakes. 

"Halt!" said a voice from somewhere in the trees. A vaguely familiar looking man wearing camouflage and brandishing a side arm at her came into view. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" 

"I'm Kalli May," she replied. "I was here some weeks ago with my boyfriend, Michael Pratt." 

The man seemed to relax a bit. "That still doesn't explain what you're doing." 

"I'm searching for wood snakes," Kalli said. "I don't generally go around dressed up like a burglar for fun." 

"What are you going to do with wood snakes?" he wondered. 

"Hopefully, kill the Chancellor." 

"Well, you're welcome to try," he said. "You seem properly equipped to handle this. Do proceed." 

"Thanks," she said. He headed off into the trees again, and she resumed scanning for wildlife. 

After a bit of searching, a signal identifiable as a snake coiled up on a branch appeared on her scanners. She approached it and as she got close, the snake dropped down hanging from the branch to flick its tongue at her. 

"Well, hello there, little one," she said, calmly picking up the snake near the head. "Let's get you back to my ship and find you some friends, shall we?" 

She shoved her scanner into her belt and headed back toward the ship, soothing the snake to keep it calm as she went. Back at the ship, she placed the snake securely inside the aquarium she had prepared for them. Kalli watched it for a minute to make sure it wasn't panicking in there or anything before heading back outside to collect some more snakes. 

As she collected the snakes, she wondered just why she needed more than one snake. One would be able to get the job done, right? She prefered to have a backup just in case something went wrong, though. At least the snakes were relatively small, at any rate. After collecting six snakes and making sure they weren't trying to kill one another or anything, Kalli closed the hatch and eased into the pilot's seat again. 

"Next stop, Toronto," she said to nobody in particular. As she headed out of the atmosphere again, she considered whether she should continue her ruse of being a Glyphan, or sneak out through a jump hole instead. Ultimately, she decided that she hadn't been there long enough to do anything that might be considered "research", and headed for the jump hole. She made it there safely without a fight, escaping notice of the Military entirely. 

Hoping for her luck to hold, she smoothly navigated the Glasgow Nebula, avoiding the volatile gas pockets, and made it to the jump hole to Manitoba. She didn't dare stop anywhere by this point, as she wasn't sure how long her snakes could go without food, even though they seemed fairly calm about the entire business. Once in Manitoba, she headed straight for the jump hole to Toronto, dozing off in the pilot's seat along the way after a long day.


	51. It's Probably Fairly Obvious By This Point.

Burgundy was a desolate system with no habitable planets and no useful resources, so no one had ever bothered building a jump gate out here. It was fortunate for them that they hadn't, otherwise they'd not have been able to get out at all. The triple star system supported nothing but a few assorted chunks of uninteresting rock. 

They crossed through the jump hole and into the Gamma system and headed straight for Theta. Mike had been correct, however, and the Nova's shielding was sufficient to protect them from the radiation in the system, particularly as far out from Gamma's sun as the jump holes were located. 

"So, believe we're gonna make it after all yet, Jake?" Mike asked. 

"I'll believe it after we survive meeting the Epsilon neutron star." 

"Hey, at least I'm not insisting that we try to fly as close to it as possible just to take a picture of it to show off," Mike said. 

"If you did, I'd probably kill you," Jake replied. 

"Nah," Mike said. "You're not that good a pilot." 

They flew on, and passed through the jump hole to Theta and proceeded to cross yet another uninteresting system. Theta at least had a rather large and pretty gas giant, if nothing else. It swirled around in many colors, spots of severe storms marking its face. Its composition was, all in all, unremarkable for a gas giant, really, and while it may have had some useful gasses, there were other gas giants that could provide them that were closer in to the Empire anyway. All in all it just wasn't generally worth coming out here and past Gamma to get to the place at all, under normal circumstances at least. 

"So far so good, eh?" Mike said. 

"If you say so," Jake said. "I'd personally prefer a nice long vacation on Tahiti or Gaytopia, but I'll take what I can get at this point." 

"Don't worry," Mike said. "This won't be so bad." 

"How did you get the jump hole locations for Epsilon if only a Nova could handle the gravitational pressures from the neutron star, anyway?" Jake asked. 

"Oh, a Death Dancer I once knew came through here once in a specially outfitted Sabre," Mike said. "And even that barely made it through in one piece. We'll be fine. Really." 

"Crazy Death Dancers," Jake muttered. "If you get me killed, I'm going to kill you." 

Mike laughed aloud. "We're not going to die. This is considerably safer than some of the other crazy things we've done, after all." 

"If you say so," Jake said. 

Mike dozed off for a few hours, allowing the autopilot to carry him on course to the jump hole to Epsilon. When he slept, he dreamed of Susan, all smiles in all her glory. It was strange, as he hadn't dreamed of her in years, but there she was, vibrant and beautiful as she had ever been. She was dancing in the summer sun, but he wasn't sure what planet it was supposed to be. She was dancing near the edge of a cliff. 

"Don't fall, Susan," his dream-self said. "You're going to fall." He reached out to catch her before she fell, but she smoothly stepped off the cliff almost as if it were intentionally. Then she sprouted silken white-feathered wings and flew away, leaving only a single feather on the ground at his feet as a reminder. Mike bent down and picked up the feather, and twirled it around between his thumb and forefinger. 

Mike stood at the edge of the cliff and looked down into the valley below, unafraid. But she was not there. He had spent far too long looking down. He raised his eyes to the sky, instead, and in the distance he thought he saw her flying on the morning winds. 

He woke slowly, feeling refreshed and enlightened, and rubbed his eyes and stretched a bit. Checking the map, he discovered that they were almost to the jump hole to the Epsilon system. 

"Well, here's the moment of truth," Mike said as they drew near. 

"The truth that you've been lying to us and we're about to die?" Jake said lightly. 

"Oh, do relax, Jake," Mike said. "It'll be fun." 

"If you say so," Jake said. 

They entered the jump hole. Mike smoothly navigated the twists and turns of this unfamiliar jump hole with practiced ease. As they came out the other side, the computer helpfully warned him of high radiation levels and notified him that it was compensating for extreme graviation. But the Novas failed to fly apart or be crushed by their proximity to the neutron star. 

"Well, we're still alive," Mike said. He pointed his ship toward the jump hole to Balzac. "Let's get a move on. No sense in dallying here." 

Jake commented, "My control panel is certainly lit up like a Christmas tree." 

"Ah, it's not that bad, Jake," Mike said. "Besides, you don't even celebrate Christmas." 

"Whatever," Jake said. "How much longer till we get there?" 

"Is your navigational computer malfunctioning?" Mike asked wryly. 

"Just trying to make conversation." 

"You're incorrigible," Mike said. 

"Thank you," said Jake. "I think." 

"That was not a compliment." 

"Really? I couldn't tell." 

"If you two don't have anything useful to talk about," Talia interrupted, "would you please shut up? I'm almost to the part where Frodo reaches Mount Doom!" 

"You could always turn off reception, you know," Jake said. 

"Yeah, and then I might miss it if somebody has an emergency," Talia said. 

"Whatever. I don't suppose I could borrow some of those book pads on the return trip, maybe?" Jake asked. 

"Sure," Talia said. "And if you shut up now, I'll even let you borrow something other than Robert Jordan's entire sixty-eight book long Wheel of Time series." 

Jake went quiet rather quickly. They sailed on quietly through the system, and Mike ran several checks to make sure his ship was fine. But the Novas were built tough and in spite of the warnings, went on without any damage. He had to wonder just how close a Nova could safely get to a neutron star, but didn't much feel like checking today when he had a mission that thousands of lives depended on for success. 

As they went, his sensors picked up several stray graviational signals. It was difficult to tell at this distance, but he thought they might be jump holes, as they didn't exhibit the normal properties of planetoids or other such celestial objects. Quite a number of them popped up on the scanners as they flew on through the system. Maybe there was something about the proximity of a neutron star that encouraged development of jump holes for some reason. If they got through here without anymore trouble he thought he might send a real scientist out here with a Nova to study the phenomenon. It was an opportunity that hadn't really been available before. After all, the guy he knew that had been here before only got the locations of both jump holes because he went through the one in Balzac and turned back immediately, and did likewise for the one in Theta. Even a specially outfitted Sabre wouldn't have withstood prolonged exposure to the neutron star, no matter what he had led Jake to believe. 

"Balzac jump hole, dead ahead," said Jake. "We ready to bust this joint and return to civilization? I know I sure am." 

"Great," Mike said. "Now that wasn't so bad, was it?" 

"If you say so."


	52. That's Not Cliche At All.

Kalli arrived in the Toronto system and sailed in past two of the outer planets. She had to wonder how much longer she could keep up this ruse, and how close she could get to the Chancellor without alerting him of her presense. There was only to hoping. She was all alone here, and had nothing but her own skills to put her faith in. Perhaps that would be enough. It had to be. 

"Glyphan ship, please identify yourself," came a voice from a patrol over the comm. 

"This is Megan Pratt of Glypha. I'm travelling to planet Toronto," Kalli replied. 

"Please submit your designation and state your purpose on Toronto." 

Kalli sent the faked Glyphan registry over. "I am doing research for a novel that I am writing." 

There was a long pause, and Kalli had to wonder if they were going to accept her fake registry. "Sorry for the delay," said the patrol ship. "We've had some recent problems and pirates and anyone coming into the system needs to be double-checked." 

"I understand," Kalli said. She rest her hands on the control panel, poised to take action at the slightest indication that they were powering weapons. 

After another pause, the ship said, "Proceed to planet Toronto. Make no deviations from your intended course." 

"Understood," Kalli said. Grinning to herself, she headed off down toward the surface of planet Toronto. She headed down to land on a platform near a library in the city of Ottawa. 

Before getting out of her ship, she pulled on her gloves again, and strapped on her jacket with her equipment, then buckled on her belt. She opened up the aquarium with the snakes and carefully placed them into pouches on her belt, legs, and sleeves. After making sure that her concealed weapons and poisons were in place, checking the gravity boots to make sure she knew how to activate them in a pinch, and wiping the ship's memory banks of any incriminating evidence, she headed out of the ship. 

First, she headed inside the library to download a map of the city into a data pad. The Imperial Palace. That sounded like a good place to look, and it wasn't too far from here. Map in hand, she headed out that way. It was difficult to look like a stupid but harmless tourist dressed like this, so she just went with the attitude of having every right to be where she was going. 

She got as far as the gates to the Imperial Palace before being stopped by a guard at the gate. "ID please," the guard said. 

"Don't you generally use computers for that sort of thing?" Kalli asked pedantically. She pretended to sift about in her pockets for an identification card. 

"Budget cuts," the guard said. 

"Budget cuts? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Now where did I put that card?" 

"Yeah," he said. "Spent too much money without return on the Rath mining project." 

"I'd have thought they'd have had it in place before then, though," Kalli commented. "And don't they pay you more than it would cost them to run the machine in the first place?" 

"Oh, they're not paying me for this," the guard said. 

"Then why are you doing it?" 

"Good point. Have a nice day." The guard walked off. 

Kalli stood there for a moment staring, trying to figure out just what had happened, before shrugging and going inside. That was a strange encounter, she thought. 

She began to wander around the Palace searching for where the Chancellor might be. However, she quickly ended up getting lost and winding up back at the gates again after going around in circles. She stood there and looked inside, scratching her head and wishing that this map of the city included the interior of the Imperial Palace, and wondering if there was any terminal around where she might obtain a map or if those were offline due to budget cuts as well. 

"Of course, for a small fee, I could give you a tour of the place, if you like." 

Kalli turned around to see the guard who had been at the gate. "Uh, sure." She fished around in her pockets and pulled out the ten thousand credits that Jake had given her back on Darwin an eternity ago, and realized that was the only money she actually had on her. No help for it, though. She handed it to him. 

He took it and glanced at the number, and his eyes went wide. "Well, buttsex, for that much I'll do more than just give you a tour!" 

"I need to find the Chancellor," she said quietly. "Furthermore, I'll prefer it if nobody shoots me in the process." 

"I see," he said knowingly, glancing at the credits in his hand and seeming to consider. Then, he put it into his pocket. "That can be arranged. Come with me. I need to speak with the captain of the guards." 

"Well, if you're going to go to just turn me in for whatever or something, I'll stay right here, thanks," Kalli said. 

He snickered. "Don't worry. I'm honest. Remember, an honest guard, once bought, stays bought." He started off down the hallway and she stepped in behind him. 

"I also don't have anymore money on me," Kalli said. 

"Don't worry," he repeated. "The Chancellor has withheld pay for the Palace guards following the disappearance of the Empress. He claimed it was punishment for our incompetence, but we all know she wasn't really kidnapped. The Empress at least made sure we were well-paid." 

"The Chancellor is a psyker," Kalli said. "And has psykers working for him. They can't read me, though. The guards _must_ not know what I intend to do." 

"That can also be arranged," the guard said cryptically. "We use a number of signals. One signal will inform them to be alert for something that may happen but to not act. Whatever happens, they won't interfere. However, the Chancellor's psykers, I can't guarentee." 

They entered the guard captain's office. The captain looked up and said, "Can I help you with something?" 

"Sir," the guard said. "We have a code yellow here. The other guards should be informed immediately." He slid the ten thousand credit card across the desk to the captain. 

The captain looked down at it for a long moment and said, "Will do. Good work. Dismissed." 

The guard took Kalli outside the office again. Kalli looked at him oddly and said, "You know too much now, though." He braced himself. "What's wrong?" 

"Well, a statement like that is usually followed by somebody dying, isn't it?" 

"Oh, do relax. If I were going to kill you I'd have done so out at the gate," Kalli said. She could feel one of the snakes slithering around impatiently. 

"That's reassuring," he said. 

"What's your name?" she asked. 

"Roger Smith," he replied. 

"Now you can be assured I won't kill you," Kalli said. "I've never killed anyone whose name I know. Now, the Chancellor?" 

Roger pulled out a hand comm device and did some checking before saying, "He's in the main conference room with a number of high ranking military officers and some bureaucrats." 

"Can you show me where it is? Maybe a back entrance?" 

Roger nodded. "There's secret passages all throughout the palace that only guards and servants actually use, but they can get you just about anywhere with minimal hassle." 

"Secret passages," Kalli said dryly. "That's not cliche at all." 

"What?" 

"Never mind. How might I get there?" 

He showed her to one of the entrances into the network of secret passages in the palace, and gave her instructions on how to get to the conference room. He was about to go along with her, but she stopped him with a hand. 

"I have to go alone," Kalli said. "They're psykers. They'll be able to sense you. They can't sense me." 

"Alright," Roger said. "Good luck." 

"Thanks," she said. "I'm going to need it." 

She headed into the secret passage.


	53. Have You Ever Noticed Authors Sometimes Build Tension By Switching POVs In the Middle of a Scene?

Mike's small fleet of ten Nova-class fighters emerged from the Epsilon jump hole and into the Balzac system. As they approached the planet, they were intercepted by a rather surprised Griffon patrol. 

"Are you coming from the direction I think you're coming from?" He recognized Liam's voice. 

"Yep," Mike said. "We came in here through the Epsilon system. Just taking the scenic route." 

"How the hell did you manage to safely cross the Epsilon system?" Liam asked in consternation. "There's a neutron star in that system!" 

"That's why we took Novas and not freighters," Mike said. "We need to land and load up on food." 

"Sure thing," Liam said. They headed down toward the surface. The Griffon patrol and the ten Novas came down and landed on the Porttown landing platform. 

Mike climbed out of his ship, wincing slightly at the healing burn on his left leg, and headed over to arrange the food loaded up. He made it clear that the cargo bays as well as the cockpits needed to be filled as much as possible and still allow the pilots to function. The clerk was puzzled over the strange request, but agreed without question. 

As they were loading up the ships with space rations, Liam said, "So what's this all about, anyway? I doubt you went through Epsilon for your health or to look at the view." 

"Do you want the real answer, or a slick lie intended to save your hide if they come asking for us?" Mike asked. 

"I think I'd better know what's really going on here now," Liam said. 

"Suit yourself," Mike said. "We came through Epsilon to get around a Military blockade around the Siberia system. They have battleships blocking every jump hole out of the system except Burgundy." 

Liam stared at him for a moment. "My god, they did that? You don't have biodomes set up there yet, do you?" 

Mike shook his head. "Our engineers are working overtime on getting them ready in light of this emergency. I think I'm going to need to thank them with a big party when this is all over. We'd be nowhere without their hard work." 

"You don't have any way to break the blockade?" Liam asked. "I heard about what happened in the Transylvania system, of course." 

"We also lost a lot of people in Transylvania," Mike said. "And then there's the radiation to take into account. I don't know what an explosion of that magnitude would do so close to a jump hole." 

"So how do you plan to get out of it? I suppose this food will keep you alive for the moment, but you're going to need access to those jump holes again unless you decided to evacuate people in the Novas," Liam said. 

"Kalli's going to try to assassinate the Chancellor," Mike said. "She may already be on Toronto for all I know. So we've just got to hope that she'll be successful, or it'll have to be Plan B." 

"Kalli?" Liam said. "Do you think she can manage it? Damn, I hope so." 

"She went in well-prepared," Mike said. "I think she's got the best chance of any of us, all things considered. But if she fails, we may not get another chance at this. Let's hope she doesn't fail." 

Liam's hand-comm buzzed, and he held it to his ear and listened for a moment, before putting it away. "An imperial battleship has appeared on long-range sensors." 

"Fuck!" Mike said. He signalled the other pilots and rushed to his ship. Within minutes, seven of the ten Novas were taking off, leaving most of the crates of food laying on the landing platform. They couldn't afford to come back without a full load, however. Nor could they afford to leave the battleship to destroy the settlement on Balzac in retribution. "Set an intercept course toward the battleship," Mike said over the comm. 

They had left Jake, Talia, and one other behind, still loading up the remaining three Novas, since Jake wasn't that great a combat pilot and Talia wanted to stay as far away from the battleship as possible when it blew. As the Novas approached the battleship, several wings of fighters broke off from it and flew toward them. To Mike's surprise, the Balzac space fleet flew out from the planet behind them to intercept the fighters. 

"We'll keep the fighters busy," Liam's voice said over the comm. "You take out that battleship." 

"Roger," Mike said. "Nova leader to Nova wing. Avoid getting hit with the battleship's weapons at all costs. Focus on the reactor and try to take it out as quickly as possible." 

The seven Novas flew quickly, firing along the length of the battleship _Custer_ as they went before coming to the reactor. Mike didn't like having to do this, but it was necessary. He didn't want to endanger planet Balzac for his own sake. He laid into the battleship's hull plating, smoothly dodging out of the way of its incoming blasts and doing his best to ignore the fighters trying to harass him. They had to do this quickly. They had to make sure they were far enough away from the planet when it blew. 

This wasn't working. The battleship was too close. He had to draw it away from the planet. The Novas could break off and head toward the jump gate and hope the battleship followed, but if it didn't, it would leave the planet defenseless. And the battleship was slower than the Novas by a considerable amount, so most likely it would just send a signal over to another ship further up that way and attack the planet. 

"Oh, motherfucking hell, just _die_ ," Mike groaned, sending through the last shots to pierce the reactor shielding. "All wings, clear out! Get as far away from the battleship as possible!" 

The Novas didn't need to be told twice. They each flew off directly away from the battleship _Custer_ , along with the Griffons. The battleship's reactor went critical, and there was a bright flash of light behind them as the ship ripped itself apart from the inside. Some of the fighters that had been too dumb or badly damaged to get out of the way were destroyed in the explosion as flying debris from the battleship struck them. 

Mike said over the comm, "I'm going to refrain from making a comment about Custer's last stand." He flew in and finished off a few of the Military fighters who had escaped the blast, and headed in toward the planet again. 

He landed his Nova back on the landing platform and went over to Jake, who said, "Talia is out cold. Everything else seems to be okay, though. The ship was still far enough away from the planet." 

Mike breathed a sigh of relief. The battle had attracted the attention of a number of people, however, including Kalli's parents. Barb said, "Why did you have to do that? We've always managed to stay under the Empire's radar by giving them lip service and selling them our food. Now they'll come after us for sure!" 

"They'd have come after you anyway," Mike said. "If we hadn't destroyed that battleship, what do you _think_ it would have done here? We could have run off to save ourselves, but we'd have left the planet defenseless." 

Barb didn't have anything to say to this. They began loading up the ships again. Jake said, "Somebody's going to need to fly Talia's ship. She gave me the ship's password before the ship went boom. I don't think we're going to have room to fit her and another pilot into the cockpit with all these rations, so she'll have to stay here for now." 

"I'll fly the ship," Liam offered. At the odd look Leonard gave him, he shrugged and said, "I'm not getting any younger here." 

"Alright," Mike said. "Great. I'm concerned that they'll send another fleet this way while we're gone, though." 

"Let's hope Kalli succeeds," Liam said. "That's the only hope we have." 

"What is Kalli doing?" Barb demanded. 

"She's saving the galaxy, Barb," Liam said. "It's all in her hands, now."


	54. Sneaky Snaky Snicker Snack.

Kalli crept quietly through the narrow passage, trying not to make too much sound and feeling her snakes moving over her clothing. She had to wonder that Roger hadn't seen their movement, or at least something moving under there, while they had been talking. She berated herself for trusting him and hoped that she wasn't walking into a trap here. There wasn't any help for it now, though. 

She could hear them talking inside. Most of the voices, she didn't recognize and couldn't pinpoint who was saying what. 

"Once we get a return on luminite from the Rath system, we will be able to build some of those Novas that those pirates are using." 

"That assumes that we can obtain the plans to one of them, or at least capture one long enough to analyze it and copy it." 

"And thus far, the pirates have managed to evade capture. How do you propose that we manage this?" 

"I have sent the battleship _Custer_ to the Balzac system in hopes of laying a trap for them." 

"Do you think it will succeed?" 

"How would they get out of the blockade around the Siberia system?" 

"The Burgundy system. There's no other way out, and no jump gate to Burgundy, so it was left temptingly open. They'll fly out through there and perhaps around through Zeta and Omega, and when they get to Balzac, the _Custer_ will be waiting for them." 

Kalli paused for a moment. Damn, she hoped that the others would be okay while she was gone. Mike could handle it, for sure. But what about her parents and her uncle? She just had to hope that they'd be alright. She had a mission to take care of here. Kalli continued to creep along through the tunnel, wondering just where the exit to this thing was. 

"And if they don't come to Balzac?" 

"The inhabitants will be arrested for treason and conspiring with the enemy, of course. Probably will be executed." 

"All of them? But we need the food supplied by planet Balzac." 

"A colony of Primos will be set up there. I am certain that they will appreciate having another planet to live on." 

Kalli clenched her eyes shut and paused for a moment. She had to focus here. If she succeeded in her mission, they would be safe. Right now, that was the best thing she could do about it. Once the Empress was back in power, she would rescind the Chancellor's orders. Kalli continued to move silently down the passageway. 

"And then these pirate scum will be destroyed once and for all, if we have to starve them in there." 

"Perhaps they will do us a favor and get biodomes set up on Siberia in the meantime to prepare it for Primo colonization." 

There! Just up ahead she saw an opening. The end of the passageway came out behind a tapestry so as to look discrete. Kalli peered out as well as she could to make sure that this was the right place. She saw a number of important-looking people seated around a table. The one at the head of the table at the far end must be the Chancellor. He had the bald head and optical implant. But how was she to get to him? 

Her snakes reminded her with their movements what their job was. "It's time for you babies to do your job," she whispered. She leaned down and opened the pouches on her legs, allowing two of the snakes there to slither out. They crept out under the tapestry and blended in nicely with the patterns on the carpet. She leaned down and opened her arm pouches as well, and let two more snakes out behind them. Now to just hope that they did their job. Holding perfectly still, she watched and waited. 

The little green snakes disappeared under the table out of sight. Kalli almost held her breath waiting. Then one of the people in a Military uniform shrieked and jumped up from the table. "Snake! Snake!" he screamed like a girl. 

The snakes were too fast, though. They must have sensed that they were being threatened, and began biting people. The conference room degenerated into chaos. But in the midst of it all, the Chancellor managed to slip away, leaving behind many of his followers to succumb to the venom. Silently she cursed herself that he had managed to escape, and hoped that this at least put a dent into his support if nothing else. 

Kalli slipped back down the passageway, heading a little faster this time. She didn't want to be caught here when someone came to investigate what was up. If anyone could get past the snakes at least. She hated leaving them there like that, but she couldn't risk going in to retrieve them right now. There were still two of them left in her belt pouch if all else failed at least. 

Roger was playing guard near the entrance to the secret passage she had used. "How did it go?" he asked quietly. 

"The Chancellor escaped," Kalli murmured. "I think I killed a number of the people who were in that room, though. Does he have an office or anything? Maybe I can get in there before he arrives." 

"Yes, it's this way." Roger led her off down another corridor. She figured she could at least somewhat trust him by this point. He hadn't led her wrong in the directions to the conference room, after all. And she hadn't been captured. 

"I don't suppose there's a secret passage into this room, too," Kalli said. 

"Nope," Roger replied. They arrived outside a large office. The door had been left slightly ajar. 

Kalli listened for a moment. There wasn't any sound coming from inside. She quietly slipped inside and found it empty as she'd hoped for. She left the door slightly ajar as it had been left and went over to the desk. A snake in the drawer, a poisoned needle in the seat of the chair, one or the other should get the job done. 

Then she heard voices outside, and quickly cast about for a place to hide. There was a small closet to one side of the room that might serve for a decent enough hiding spot in a pinch. Into the closet she went as the Chancellor returned to his office.


	55. Didn't This Get Annoying In That One Movie?

Mike led his fleet back to the Epsilon system as quickly as they could be off. They had left Talia in the care of Kalli's parents, who had promised to take care of her and make sure she bathed and ate her vegetables until she was well enough to travel again. Liam was piloting Kalli's ship, and he seemed to be a fair enough pilot all things considered. Mike just hoped that nobody returned to Balzac while they were gone. It would be nice to be able to be everywhere at once, but that just wasn't possible. 

"So this is what a neutron star looks like up close," Liam said over the comm. "I never thought I'd see this in my lifetime. What a sight." 

"It's not really much of a sight," Mike said. "Seeing as you can't really _see_ the thing very well." 

"Well, yeah, but the sensor readings are fascinating. The gravity readings along make such a pretty chart on the color display." 

"If you say so," Mike said. 

"Bah, I forgot to get those books from Talia," Jake said. "Are they still over on that ship, Liam?" 

"Yeah, they got piled up under the seat when the ship was loaded up," Liam said. 

"Tell me a story, Uncle Liam," Jake said. 

"He isn't your uncle," Mike said. 

"I don't care," Jake said. 

"Okay, how about this one? _The Star Princess_ , dated 2213," Liam said. 

"Sounds good to me," Jake replied. 

"Once upon a time," read Liam, "there was a princess. She was the most beautiful princess in all the galaxy. Her ears were of graceful Elven beauty and her hair was a cascade of golden starlight falling from her head and spilling over her shoulders in magnificent waves, like the ocean lit by the sun of Darwin at dawn, where the Merfolk play and swim in the radiant morning light. Her eyes were two pools of rich and glorious blue, like the summer skies over Tasmania, cloudless and wild and free, unpolluted by radiation or space dust. The clear peels of her laughter echoed brightly across the air like small silver bells ringing in the morning breeze." 

"Bah, this is corny," Jake said. "Aren't there any cute guys in this story?" 

"Okay, okay, I'll skip that part," Liam said. He cleared his throat and read on. "There was a handsome prince named Charles. He was strong and built like a bull, his powerful muscles rippling across his perfect chiseled body." 

"That's more like it," Jake put in. 

"With one swing of his mighty sword he could cleave a tharg melon cleanly in two. He could defeat an entire pack of Wolves singlehandedly, and emerge without taking a scratch. His powerful legs were swift and agile, and he could outrun a Cheetah over open ground, climb better than a Squirrel, and swim faster than any Merfolk. And of all the things in the known galaxy, the one thing he desired most was the beautiful and dazzling princess Persephone." 

"Cut!" Jake cut in. "Why do the _girls_ always get the cute guys?" 

"Well, that's just the way the story was written," Liam said. 

"Just once, I want to see the handsome prince hook up with the duke in a dress," Jake said. "Yeah, that would make a good story, I think." 

"It wouldn't sell very well on Primo planets," Liam commented. 

"I don't care. It would be a best seller on Gaytopia, at least." 

"I suppose so." 

After what seemed like an eternity of listening to Liam and Jake discussing the potential market for homosexual romance adventure novels, they reached the jump gate to the Theta system. Mike gratefully headed through and, once on the other side, plotted a course for the Gamma jump hole. Then, as they went on their way, Jake and Liam started up again. Mike sighed and decided it was time for a nap. 

Several hours later, Mike woke up. He yawned and stretched about as much as was possible when the cockpit was full of boxes of space rations to the point where he couldn't even really stand up anyway. He checked their position and found that they were nearing the jump hole to the Gamma system. A good way to spend a boring leg of the journey at least, he thought. 

"Then," Jake was saying over the comm, "the handsome prince could cleave the space dragon in two, and rescue the transvestite in distress." 

"Brilliant," Liam said. "And then after that--" 

"You two are _still_ talking about that?" Mike asked. 

"Good morning, Mike," Jake said. "Yes, here you see a great work of art in progress. This novel we are writing shall be a smash hit all across Gaytopia! It will rise to the top of the Gaytopian Times Bestsellers List and we shall make millions of credits in royalties!" 

"If you say so," Mike said. 

They crossed through the jump hole and into the Gamma system. Once on the other side, his control panel lit up with radiation warnings, but the ship's shielding was still more than sufficient to protect them. The fleet headed on back toward Burgundy again. Before long, Liam and Jake thankfully went quiet, presumably having fallen asleep or something. It wouldn't be too long now before they could return back to Siberia with the much-needed food supplies that they were carrying. 

Mike wondered to himself how Kalli was getting on. If she hadn't been on Toronto when they'd reached Balzac, she should be there by now at least. He just had to hope that wherever she was, she was doing alright and would get the mission done. Preferably before the Chancellor decided to send anymore battleships into the Balzac system in their absense. Poor Kalli, he wouldn't know what to tell her if he got her parents killed by not being there to protect them from the imperial fleet. 

They crossed over through Burgundy and Mike dozed a bit more along the way. At least that way he didn't have to listen to the happy gay guys if they woke up again. Why had he agreed to let Jake come on this trip, anyway? No matter. He was an old friend, after all, even if he did drive Mike crazy sometimes. He missed Kalli and again wished that he knew how she was getting on.


	56. On the Edge of Death.

Kalli left the closet door slightly ajar so that she could peer out into the office to see what was happening there. She drew one of her concealed blasters and held it ready to shoot in case anyone opened the closet door as a precaution. Briefly she wondered why most everyone seemed to use old-fashioned doors with doorknobs and such instead of futuristic high-tech sliding doors, and then figured it was their door and they could have whatever kind of door they wanted. 

The Chancellor was speaking with another person that she could not see. Kalli dearly hoped that Roger had had the sense to go off somewhere and not hang around and give her away. 

"I am uncertain as to how such an infiltrator could have gotten into the palace," said the unseen person. 

The Chancellor circled the desk, his cybernetic eye glittering. "Admiral Henderson, do look over the registry of all persons assigned to the palace at this time. You will find it in the top drawer on the right." 

"Yes, Your Excellency." The man came into view and opened up the indicated drawer. Immediately, the snake within the drawer snapped out and bit him in the forearm. Henderson gave a look of shock as he fell to his knees. 

"That was for your incompetence," the Chancellor said. "This never should have been allowed to happen in the first place." 

Kalli held her breath. How had he known the snake was in there? The implant, that was the only explanation. But then, he should know she was there as well. Damn it! She clenched her blaster in her hand and held perfectly still, poised to shoot at the slightest hint of the man approaching her hiding place. 

"Kindly remove this scum from my office," the Chancellor said to someone she couldn't see. The body was dragged away. There was the sound of a door closing at the entrance to the Chancellor's office. "Now," he said, addressing nobody in particular as he paced about his office. "Where are you hiding, little one? I know you must be in here somewhere. Come out now. You'll save yourself a lot of trouble." 

That he didn't know exactly where she was was some indication that he really could not sense her, or that he was simply playing with her for whatever reason. This mission was proving more troublesome than she had originally taken into account. But she had come prepared for this. She still had alternatives to fall back on. 

She felt something against her leg, and glanced down to see the snake that she had put in the drawer had slithered into the closet there with her. Suddenly, the door whipped open and her blaster-arm was grabbed, and she found herself lying on her back on the ground. Damn, he was fast, and strong! 

"So there you are, my little psi-blind friend," the Chancellor cooed. "Thought you were going to kill me, did you? I must, however, admire your creativity. But it isn't going to get you anywhere at all, no, not at all." He pried her blaster out of her fingers and placed it on the desk. 

Kalli grunted softly. The Chancellor, still holding her arm with his surprisingly strong fingers, grabbed her throat with his other hand. Trying to focus, she snapped her free hand around to rip open the pouch with her last snake in it. The snake helpfully sunk its fangs into the nearest flesh, that being the Chancellor's arm. 

"You're just full of little tricks, aren't you?" he said calmly. He released her and removed the snake from his arm, revealing a patch of skin missing, revealing circuitry underneath. "That might have been more useful had it actually struck real flesh there, girl." He reached over and placed the snake into a potted plant, where it slithered up into the foliage. 

Kalli stood up slowly, cautiously. The Chancellor made no move to stop her, he simply went over and pressed a button on the desk and placed her blaster into a drawer. "What do you want with me?" she asked. 

"You have, however, proved considerably more competent than the majority of those already working for me," the Chancellor said. "You have slipped out of my clutches time and again and succeeded where others had failed." 

"Now hold on one minute," Kalli said, holding up a hand. "I've seen too many corny holovids to not know where this is going. First off, why would you think I would join you if I disagreed with what you were doing enough to risk my life and my freedom in an attempt to kill you? Secondly, even if I did agree, why would you trust me in such a thing considering that you cannot read me to even make sure that I was telling the truth?" 

The Chancellor gave a small grin. "And that is what I like about you, girl. You are not bloody stupid like some of the others. Although you did fail to realize that while I could not sense _your_ presense, I could sense that of the snakes, but that is a minor error as most psykers do not have much affinity toward animals." 

Silently she cursed herself for not thinking of that. So that was how he'd known! "A mistake I won't make again, I assure you," she muttered. She had other concealed weapons on her. But the Chancellor was watching her carefully and with his reflexes he could no doubt bring her down again before she could bring it to bear anyway. She was in quite the predicament here. 

"Yes, I'm sure," the Chancellor said. "Please, be seated." He gestured to a wooden chair at the corner of his desk. Kalli figured that defying him at this point wasn't really going to help matters much, so she sat down. The Chancellor, likewise, took a seat in his large leather chair. "Ow!" he cried out, straightening himself quickly and turning his back to Kalli as he looked to see what had pricked him. 

Kalli was quick to take the opportunity to whip out a blaster and leap to her feet again. No hesitation. She fired her weapon, striking him dead in the back with an energy blast. He stumbled to the ground. Even though the small blaster wasn't powerful enough in itself to kill him outright, he didn't appear to be in such good shape regardless. 

"So," he murmured, kneeling on the floor next to his chair. "You win after all. I had expected the snake in the desk, but I did not see the needle in the chair." He chuckled softly, distantly. "If you're lucky, you may even escape from the palace alive." He reached up and punched a button on his desk, then keeled over. 

An alarm rang throughout the palace.


	57. Did You Ever Notice Kalli's Chapters Took Place Within A Few Days Time And Everyone Else's Must Be At Least A Week?

Meanwhile, back over on planet Harris, some various scientists were analyzing Richard Penner's experiments in the laboratory at Donovan Blake's abandoned base there. A good number of the contraptions, they could not begin to decipher just what it was they were supposed to do, if they even worked correctly in the first place. 

"This Penner fellow was a genius," Amy Campbell said as she examined one device. It appeared to be some sort of miniature wormhole generator, but it wasn't functional. The wormhole had probably destabilized, as it didn't appear to have sufficient stabilizing oomponents to maintain stability in an artificial wormhole for an extended period of time. 

"The scouts report that the battleship is still stationed before the jump hole to the Tau system," Todd Michaels said. "Hopefully they'll at least stay there instead of coming over here to cause us trouble. We aren't properly equipped to deal with something like a battleship." 

"I fear that the others are trapped in Siberia at this rate because of it," Amy said. "I hope they'll be alright. Maybe something in this lot will help with that, though." 

"Like what, do you suppose?" Todd asked, glancing around the room at all the whirring and humming devices. 

"I don't know," Amy admitted. "I don't even know what half of these things _do_. Penner may have been a genius, but I doubt he was completely sane." 

"That must is fairly obvious, if he was following that madman Blake." Todd pulled out a ration bar from his pocket and offered it to her. "Lunch?" 

"Yeah, thanks," she said, taking the bar and pulling off the wrapping and nibbling on it a bit. "I'm worried about the others back on Siberia though." 

"Ah, I'm sure they'll be fine," Todd said. "They have the Novas after all, and can destroy the battleships if they have to with them. Or they could get out through Burgundy, since I doubt the Empire could manage to get a battleship over there." 

"Well, I don't like sitting here helpless and waiting and wondering what's going to happen and if we're going to be attacked and if we're even going to be alive tomorrow," Amy said. "There's a battleship up there and it has no doubt by now noticed our occasional scouts coming from this planet!" 

"I'm sure we'll be fine," Todd said. 

An alarm buzzed through her hand comm, and the notification came through that the base was under attack by Military fighters. "Damn it!" Amy said. "I told you! Get up there with the others, I'll see if I can find anything in here to help." 

Todd nodded, and gave her a small kiss before running off to his ship to help in the battle. She wasn't really certain that they had enough firepower to hold off a Military wing of any size, as only a small contingent of fighters had been detached to their position. They did have a Sabre that had been used to carry over some of their analytical devices, but one Sabre wasn't much good against a fleet of Barracudas, even if it was larger and stronger than each Barracuda one on one. 

Amy cast about the room for anything that might actually help them survive this. Malfunctioning artficial wormhole generators just wouldn't be all that useful in defeating a wing of Military Barracudas, after all. There were artificial gravity generators that did not seem to work properly as well, and some sort of comm device that only produced annoying feedback. They didn't appear to have left much of anything that could really be used as a weapon. 

Or did they? They couldn't have taken everything with them, after all. They hadn't had time to really pack up anything due to the sudden attack by the pirates, and reports from their base in Tasmania had indicated only an artificial gravity manipulator, and nothing else, and that apparently having been built on-site. So where had Penner kept his advanced weapon prototypes? Maybe she was just looking in the wrong place entirely. If she was a mad scientist, which she wasn't exactly as she considered herself a perfectly sane and rarely angry scientist, she'd no doubt want to hide her more powerful inventions better than her mere toys and gadgets that didn't work. 

Amy pulled out a scanner and began scanning the complex in greater depth, searching for any indication of hidden passages or secret doors. Although she didn't bring up anything of the sort, she did locate a section of the base which was shielded in coronite. That was where the Supernova had been kept and the reason the scouts had not picked it up in their initial surveys. Why hadn't she thought of that before? 

She rushed over into that part of the base and began poking around, searching for any devices Penner might have left behind. Then she found it, well hidden under layers of coronite and junk in this part of the facility. A luminite-powered ion cannon that had been too large for them to take on the Supernova when they escaped. Why hadn't they used it against the pirates during their attack? Perhaps it simply wasn't in a proper position to do so or that it wasn't completed yet. 

With some effort and the help of an anti-gravity device, Amy managed to move the huge cannon out to a place where it might be able to target the fighters fighting in the atmosphere above the base. They were much too close for comfort. This might have originally been intended as a capital ship weapon, but she figured they must be close enough to hit them with it from the ground regardless. 

Amy began to power up the luminite cannon. She stared at the sky, hoping that Todd was okay. As the cannon powered up, she calculated speed and trajectory of the Barracudas, then fired it off. A great burst of light and energy erupted from the mouth of the cannon and struck one of the Barracudas dead on, destroying it in a single blast. 

"Great shot!" came Todd's voice over her hand comm. 

This had, however, attracted the attention of the Barracudas, who began to strafe the ground near her in an attempt to bring her down. She ducked under an outcropping of metal as the cannon powered up again for another shot. The blaster fire continued to strike the ground near her, causing small craters to appear in the dirt, and pockmarked the sheet of metal above her. She couldn't stay out here like this, so she ducked into the safety of the complex again. 

The cannon continued to power up, charging up more and more without anyone to discharge it. As it hadn't been previously tested as safe, this ended up causing a chain reaction, the luminite causing the power to build up increasingly faster until it reached the point where it just couldn't hold anymore energy. Several minutes after Amy had abandoned the cannon, it went critical. 

An incredible burst of light and energy erupted from the cannon as it ripped itself apart from the inside from the stress.


	58. Another One Bites the Dust.

As the alarm rang through the palace, Kalli shoved a cabinet against the door and threw open the curtains on the window behind the desk. It was a long drop from here to the ground, but she had her anti-gravity boots. Kalli hoped that the guards didn't interfere as Roger had promised, and fumbled with the catch for the window. 

She hated leaving the snakes behind, but the Chancellor was right about one thing. If she did, none of the psykers there would be able to detect her. The window finally opened and she activated her boots and stepped outside. Looking below, she was at once glad she wasn't afraid of heights and that she was wearing gravity boots. There was a roof of something below, and a stretch of grass between the palace and the wall. The grass was apparently on top of another part of the palace as it was higher up than the street level. 

Kalli manipulated her boots as Marina had instructed her and brought herself down lightly onto the grass. She was still a ways off from her ship and was still inside the palace, however. Pulling out her scanner, she thought she heard people coming toward her, and the scanner confirmed that several heat signatures were heading in her direction. Using the scanner to get her bearings, she headed off in the direction that would take her toward where she had left her ship. 

"Halt!" shouted a voice behind her. "Freeze right there! Put your hands up!" 

Kalli turned around. They wore the uniforms of Military soldiers, not the palace guards. She fired her blaster at them and leaped out of the way of their subsequent attack, flipping over backwards in the air and landing lightly on top of the wall thanks to her anti-gravity boots. As they continued to fire at her new position, she ducked down and jumped down over the other side of the wall. 

Then she was off at a run toward the library landing platform. But before she even got past the palace, soldiers flooded out into the streets before her. "Halt!" they demanded. She swiveled about to see the way back was blocked as well. 

Swearing quietly, she leaped up into the air and onto the palace wall again. It was tricky to manipulate the boots properly to let her jump that high and yet still come down when she wanted to, not to mention letting gravity hold her enough to run properly. It would probably be considerably more annoying if the boots didn't have controls on the belt and wrist and had them only on the boots themselves. Even if it did make the thing more of an anti-gravity suit and a bit annoying to get in and out of. It was worth the trouble at least for the easier control. 

She rushed back inside the palace, wondering how she was going to get herself out of this. Maybe the guards would help her. She might need to find an air-speeder to get her back to the library. The secret passages might work for a hiding spot for now. Her scanner didn't have much luck penetrating the rock and stone that the palace was made up of, and she hoped that the soldiers' scanners would be similarly inhibited. Locating the nearest entrance to one, she ducked inside and scrambled back into it. 

It would help if she had a more powerful weapon. These worthless hand-blasters could barely stun someone and not even knock them out. She had to wonder why they were even considered useful at all and what the point was. Maybe she just had it set to the lowest setting or something. It was too damned dark in here to check it right now. She wondered just where this passageway led. She wondered where Roger was. She wondered where _she_ was. 

At least there wasn't anyone trying to shoot at her in here. Kalli fumbled about down the passageway and came to a fork, and took the left fork arbitrarily. After a few meters it came out at a tapestry on one of the palace corridors. A man in a Military uniform was patrolling the hall, most likely searching for her. Kalli came out and chucked her hand-blaster at his head. "Ow!" he cried out, spinning around to see where it had come from. Her foot connected with his hand, knocking his blaster away. Then a punch connected with his jaw, knocking him to the floor. 

Kalli dove for the blaster and grabbed it. "Sorry, buddy, it's time for you to take a nap," she said, setting the weapon to heavy stun and blasting him with it. He went down, out cold. 

She felt better now that she had a real weapon that would actually knock somebody unconscious or kill them in one shot. Ducking back into the secret passage, she searched her pockets for any sort of flashlight. Failing to find any, she wished that her mother had tried to genetically engineer her with nightvision instead of psychic powers, but realized that she'd probably have screwed that up too. She'd have probably ended up color-blind or something, knowing her mother. 

Kalli made her way down the secret passage and took the right fork, heading along through the darkness. After randomly heading through several more forks, she decided that she was thoroughly lost. She pulled out her scanner and punched some buttons, and was grateful that even though it couldn't penetrate the palace walls, that it had been recording where she had been and where she was. 

Using the glowing display of the scanner as a light and trying to follow its map, she worked her way around to where the guard captain's office was that Roger had taken her to before. Hoping that they didn't just decide to turn them in, she emerged from the passages near the captain's office. Seeing that there were no Military-uniformed guys around this particular hallway, she headed over to the door and knocked politely. 

"Enter," came a voice from inside. 

Paranoidly holding her blaster at ready, she stepped inside. There was, in addition to the guard captain, a Military officer, an admiral judging by his insignia, and three lower-ranking soldiers. 

"There she is! Get her!" the admiral barked. 

Zap, zap, zap. As three bodies slumped to the floor unconscious, Kalli reminded herself to thank her mother for her quick reflexes when she got home. She pointed her weapon at the admiral and said, "Don't even think about it." 

"What?" he said. "You going to kill me, too?" 

"They're not dead," Kalli said. "Just stunned. The Empress commanded that I kill only who are absolutely necessary." 

"The Empress?" the admiral said. "You are holding a Karzan Military admiral at gunpoint and claim to be under orders from the Empress herself?" He glanced at the guard captain. "And why are you _still_ not doing anything about this?" 

"I work for whoever pays me, admiral," the guard captain replied. "And I'm afraid the Chancellor has not paid me in two weeks." 

"You are a filthy traitor, captain." 

"The Chancellor was the filthy traitor here, admiral," Kalli said. "He tried to have the Empress killed and she barely made it off the planet alive." 

"That's preposterous!" the admiral said. 

"And you know as well as I do that it's true," the captain said. 

The admiral glared at him. "Do you have any _proof_ that the Empress herself sent you, woman?" 

Kalli stuck her left hand into her pockets, searching for the ring the Empress had given her to show in just such an occasion. It hadn't been feasable to bring it out before with everyone trying to shoot her, but now when she had someone's attention and they could look at it well, it might just be useful. There it was! 

She pulled out the signet ring the Empress had given her and showed it to him. He stared at it for a long moment. "It.. appears to be genuine. Why didn't you tell us this before?" 

"I was afraid that the Chancellor had you under his control," Kalli said. "I could not compromise my mission with notifying my presense to anyone here that he might scan and learn of it from." 

"I shall call off my men at once," the admiral said. Kalli lowered her weapon. He went for the comm. "This is Admiral Fischer to all units. Stand down from red alert. Cancel the search for the intruder." 

"So the Chancellor is dead, then?" Kalli said. She put her blaster away. 

Admiral Fischer nodded. "I'll presume you're responsible, and perhaps you should be thanked if what you say is true. What of the other dignitaries that were found dead in the conference room with a number of poisonous snakes?" 

"The Chancellor's lapdogs, so it seems," Kalli said. "The Empress, as you may well know, did _not_ want those battleships moved out there." 

"Where is she now?" Admiral Fischer asked. "Is she safe?" 

Kalli nodded. "She is alive and well on planet Siberia." 

"I shall send a squadron of fighters to accompany you back to retrieve her," Fischer said. "I would send her Death Dancers with you, but they appear to be elsewhere. Are they with her?" 

"Yes," Kalli said. "I am, however, also a Death Dancer myself. I would merely like to get past one of those battleships in one piece, preferably." 

"Perhaps you wish to sleep and eat before leaving?" the captain of the guard offered. 

"Yes, that would be nice," Kalli said, stifling a yawn. She hadn't realized how tired and hungry she was. 

The admiral said, "Please, join us in the private dining room, my dear-- I don't believe I caught your name." 

"Kalli," she said. "Kalli May, of the Dancers on the Edge of Death."


	59. Gay Love Triangle?

Mike and his fleet landed back on planet Siberia. Kalli hadn't arrived back in yet nor had they heard any word on her progress, but that was to be expected. Warren was among those who met them at the landing platform, although while most were eagerly awaiting their supplies, he was most likely awaiting something of a different nature entirely. 

Liam and Jake were still chatting about their novel-to-be, apparently. Those two were insatiable. What was the big deal about a silly little novel nobody would probably ever read anyway? Well, whatever floats their boats. Warren approached them and paused as he noticed them talking. 

"I am not interrupting any matters which pertain of importance, am I?" Warren asked. 

"No, not at all," Jake said. "Warren, meet my new friend, Liam May. He's Kalli's uncle. Liam, this is Warren Wright, of the Dancers on the Edge of Death." 

"It's so nice to know that I'm known around here only as 'Kalli's uncle'," Liam said with a wry grin. 

"Ah, you'll get used to it," Jake said. "Would you prefer 'Some random guy from Balzac who helped us out'?" 

"No, Kalli's uncle is fine, really. So, Warren, are you interested in reading our new book when we get done with it? It's called _The Handsome Prince and the Well-Dressed Duke_." 

"Of what manner of subject would this composition be comprised of upon completion?" 

"It's about a stereotypical handsome prince," Jake said, "who rescues this crossdressing duke from a vicious space dragon. And they, of course, fall in love and live happily ever after and adopt many children." 

"That's really oversimplifying the plot, though," Liam said. "They'll also have a bumbling Euphorian along as comic relief who constantly complains about the quest being unpleasant, and there will be this evil Urian who keeps trying to sacrifice their babies, and a Glyphan tagging along trying to write a novel about their exploits." 

" _We're_ writing a novel now, Liam," Jake said. "Does that mean we're now Glyphans, too?" 

"Nah," Liam said, patting Jake on the shoulder. 

Suddenly, without any warning whatsoever, Warren leaped upon Jake, knocking him on his back against the ground and snarling in anger. What the hell was that all about? Warren had always been such a calm, easygoing guy. Mike whipped out his blaster, made sure it was set to stun, and snapped, "Warren! Get off him! And if this is some sort of bizarre kinky playing thing, get a room." 

"This fetid swine has besmirched my honor!" Warren growled, baring his rabbit teeth. "To have been promiscuous to have lain with another and have had the temerity to return unto this location with him is a foul and treacherous act of lechery which I shall not tolerate!" 

Whatever it was Warren was saying, he sounded serious. "Warren," Mike warned. "Don't make me stun you. Have your lover's spat or whatever, but _I_ will not tolerate killer bunnies ripping out my friend's throat in front of me." 

Warren slowly climbed off Jake's chest, straightening. Jake stood up and brushed himself off, seeming no worse for wear at least. Jake said, "Actually, I don't think I understood a word you said, either." 

"Allow me to rephrase that statement in terms which may be easier to comprehend," Warren said. "You two-timing son of a bitch!" 

"Oh," Jake said. Mike hung around just to make sure nobody was going to try to kill one another. 

"You make no attempt at which to deny my accusations?" Warren said. 

"I never really thought much of it, really," Jake said. 

"You gave no concern as to how I might react upon the situation and no regard toward my own emotions?" Warren went on. 

"Wait a minute, wait a minute," Liam said. "I'm hardly one to wish to incur the wrath of a killer bunny, but it's not really my place to step in here. I don't mean to try to get between you two." 

"You, remain out of this for a brief moment," Warren said. "Jacob! What do you have to affirm for yourself?" 

"Er," Jake said. "I'm sorry?" 

"That is the sum of what you are capable of expressing?" Warren said. "That you are _sorry_?" 

"Well, what else can I say?" Jake said. "I made a mistake. If anything, the mistake of not realizing that you were that serious with me nor that you expected monogamy." 

Warren stared at Jake for a long moment as if considering his words. "If it is truth that I failed to properly express my views upon the matter unto you, I do therefore apologize for reacting in such a manner toward you and Liam. However I must request that should you desire to continue your relationship with me that you take into account my preference toward conducting such manner of business to reflect upon my desire to remain mutually monogamous." 

"Er," Jake said. "What?" 

Warren said, "I said. Don't do it again or we're through." 

"Oh," Jake said. 

"Make your decision," Warren pressed. 

"Can I think about this for a bit? Please?" Jake said. 

"As you wish," Warren said. "You shall be knowledgeable of the location at which to make contact with me at the time you come to your decision." He turned on his paw and headed inside the base. 

"Well," Liam said when he was out of earshot. "You never said anything about _him_." 

"I had no idea he'd react like this," Jake said. "I can't understand half of what he's saying most of the time. He's like a walking thesaurus and probably gets half the uses of his words wrong anyway." 

"I didn't mean to cause any trouble for you," Liam said. "It just gets a bit lonely out on Balzac since there aren't really any other gay guys there. If you'd rather stay with Warren and avoid anymore trouble, I'll understand." 

Jake sighed. "I'll need to think about it. Meanwhile, can we get inside somewhere that it isn't freezing cold? Some of that boiling hot tea would suit me fine about now." 

"An excellent idea," Mike muttered. "Let's go." The three of them headed into the base.


	60. The Return of Mr. Ian Woon.

After eating a hearty meal, Kalli decided to take a warm bubble bath before heading into bed. Admiral Fischer had assured her that he had sent messages to the battleships blockading the jump holes to the Siberia system ordering them to return to their standard posts, but it would take a few days for the messages to reach them. 

The warm water was soothing on her skin. She had bathed last on Darwin, but had been through quite a lot since then. Her mother would complain to her if she did not start bathing more often, after all. Not that that had ever been much motivation to do something. 

Kalli was paranoid, however. She had to wonder if she hadn't killed _all_ of the Chancellor's most staunch supporters. If all the ones remaining were just going along with it because they thought the Chancellor was acting with authority as Fischer had. But even Fischer had realized that the Empress hadn't really been murdered or kidnapped. She had to wonder if this wasn't all some sort of trap for her and if they would really let her go. At least the door was locked from the inside. 

She was just being paranoid. Nobody could get into here. There wasn't any way to open that door from the outside. She told herself that she should just relax and enjoy her bath. They would have to blow a wall off the palace to get to her here. 

At that moment, a wall blew off the palace. Half of the wall separating the bedroom and the bathroom was reduced to rubble. Some bits of concrete fell into the tub, but Kalli was unhurt. 

Kalli leaped out of the bathtub and ran naked into the bedroom, grabbing her blaster and looking about to assess the damage and see if she could discern where the blast had come from. A Barracuda-class fighter zipped past the gaping hole in the wall, shooting at the small tower and dislodging more pieces of concrete. 

Swearing, Kalli dropped her blaster and pulled on her anti-gravity boots as quickly as she could before grabbing it again, activating them, and leaping into the air directly toward the ship. Whoever it was, his aim wasn't particularly good and his skill at making tight loops like that left something to be desired. Not a great pilot. 

Kalli managed to hit the fighter, but landed on the bottom of it rather than the top as she'd intended. No matter, she told herself. She just adjusted her gravity boots to adhere her to the nearest surface and started climbing around to where the airlock was. Generally the hatch could not be opened while the ship was in flight, but the airlock had no such restrictions as it was usually considered if you were using the airlock you had a good reason to be using it. 

The fighter banked and spun, trying to dislodge her, but her gravity boots held her firmly in place. She made it to the airlock and tried to force open the manual release. Some fighters behind them started coming after them. Kalli wished that she had had time to grab her comm device. As they started firing on the Barracuda, she gave up on this and prefered not to get shot, and leaped off the back of the fighter. 

Irritably adjusting her gravity boots manually to land back on the roof of the palace, Kalli wished that the things knew how to automatically adjust themselves. No matter. Who the hell was trying to kill her _now_? The rogue Barracuda came around for another pass, trying to nail her with its blasters. She leaped off the roof and dropped down toward the courtyard as pieces of roof flew everywhere. 

The Barracuda made a swift and rough landing in the courtyard and surprisingly remained intact. The hatch flew open and a man leaped out, shooting at her with a pair of energy pistols. Kalli ducked behind a pile of debris from the tower and fired back at him. As he ran toward her, she calibrated her gravity boots for the stunt she was about to try, still managing to fire some shots at him, but he appeared to be wearing blast armor, making it difficult to land an effective hit. 

When she judged him close enough, she leaped, her feet slamming into his chest before he could react. She kept falling a bit past him before she managed to switch off the heavy sideways gravity on her boots, but before she "fell" into anything else at least. Kalli ran over to where he was laying on his back, stunned, the blasters dropped at his sides. 

She would scoop up his blasters to keep his hands off them, but she lacked three hands and needed one for her boots, so she just kicked them to the far end of the courtyard with the help of a little gravity manipulation. The man groaned and blinked open his eyes and no doubt got a good view of a naked woman holding him at gunpoint. 

"You, sir, interrupted my bath," Kalli said sternly. "I do not much appreciate that. Who are you?" 

"Mr. Ian Woon," he stammered, staring at her. She ignored his stares. 

"Why did you try to kill me?" The Military ships had landed and some soldiers were approaching, but seeing her naked and apparently in control of the situation, they kept their distance. At least they were a discouragement against Ian doing anything stupid. That is, more stupid than what he had already done at least. 

"You killed the Chancellor," Ian stuttered. 

"That is not a very good excuse," Kalli said. "Are you so dense as to entirely fail to recognize a losing situation? It's over, Mr. Ian Woon." She called over to the soldiers, "Take him away." 

They came and bound him in a restraining device and half-carried him off into the palace again. Kalli adjusted her gravity boots and leaped smoothly up to her rooms to get dressed again. She wasn't much concerned about the lack of privacy due to the wall missing seeing as everyone had already seen her naked anyway, though she was more concerned about the thing collapsing further while she was up there. It held firmly, however, and she got dressed again and collected her things and let the water out of the tub. At least it had been one of the smaller towers at the corners and not the main one at the west edge, or it would be considerably more difficult to repair the thing. 

Once she had everything, she leaped back out of the opening in the tower wall and smoothly landed back on the ground again. That was considerably easier and more fun than using the stairs or the lift. She would have to remember to get herself a pair of these boots sometime. They were useful and fun. 

Kalli headed into the palace and toward the nearest guard. She was wearing her Death Dancer insignia again and carried herself with an air of authority that made people automatically assume she was somebody important even if they had never seen her before. "Where is Mr. Ian Woon being detained?" she asked. 

The guard immediately rang up someone on his comm and replied, "Dungeon level one, cell twenty-three." 

She didn't bother asking for directions there, just heading down in the general direction she thought it was probably in. It wasn't too difficult to find at any rate, and the guards at the dungeons just took one look at her Death Dancer symbol and let her in without question. Presumably they had been told who she was and this wasn't just a severe security hazard here. 

Admiral Fischer was there looking into the barred and forcefielded cell. "Ah, there you are, Kalli," he said. "This is the man who tried to kill you?" 

"Yeah," Kalli said. "Blew a nice hole in the wall of the south tower, too." 

"He will be dealt with properly, I assure you," the admiral said. "I will have you reassigned to another room for the night. I must apologize for this situation. He should have never been able to get off with a ship like that." 

"Thank you, sir," Kalli said. "I would much like to be able to get some uninterrupted rest about now." 

"Show her to her quarters," the admiral said to one of the guards. Kalli nodded in thanks to Admiral Fischer and followed the guard off to another room. Maybe this time she'd be able to get some rest without anyone barging in and blowing a rather large hole in the wall. It wasn't a wonder that Mike had developed such reflexes whenever anyone woke him up unexpectedly.


	61. Let's See How That Battle at Planet Harris Went.

Amy Campbell crawled out of what was left of the base on planet Harris, sore and somewhat worse for wear. She dusted herself off and looked to see if anyone else was still alive, or if any of Penner's inventions had survived the destruction. Silently she cursed herself for leaving the cannon unattended like that. She was a scientist. She should have known something like this would happen, but certainly not on this scale. 

"Amy!" came a voice. She turned to see Todd scrambling toward her over smouldering debris. 

"Oh, Todd, you're alive!" she cried, hugging him tightly. 

"What happened?" Todd asked. "What was that explosion?" 

"It was a luminite-powered ion cannon that I found in the coronite-shielded section of the base," Amy explained. "I was trying to use it to fight off the Barracudas, but they keep trying to shoot at me so I had to get under cover." 

"My ship is in one piece," Todd said. "I can't say the same about most of the others, though. And I don't really know if the Barracudas were all destroyed or if the survivors hightailed it out of here, but either way they're gone." 

A Raven flew down and landed near them. A man climbed out and looked around at the wreckage. "By the Daughter's clitoris, what happened here?" 

"There was an accident," Amy said. "And we were attacked." 

"Yeah," the Raven's pilot said. "I passed some Barracudas on the way back here, but they didn't even turn an eye to me. Funny. Anyway, I was out on a scouting mission to see if the battleship was still around, and I hurried back to report that it's moving away. They're leaving the system." 

"Really?" Amy said wearily. "We can get out of here, then. But first I want to see if there's anymore survivors or if any of Penner's devices are still intact. Help us scour the rubble." 

The three of them searched the ruins of the base and managed to find two badly wounded survivors. They carried them to Todd's Sabre and gave them basic medical attention, but they would need to see a real doctor as soon as possible. Likewise Amy did locate a few of Penner's smaller and more durable items that had survived the destruction of the base, and pocketed them. 

"If the battleship is really gone, we should get back to base," Amy said. "These two need help, and soon." 

Todd nodded. He glanced to the Raven pilot whose name she could not remember and said, "You go on ahead of us. If you pick up anything first on sensors, signal us immediately. I'll fly the Sabre. Amy, you try to take care of their injuries as best as you can as we go." 

They boarded the ships and set off away from planet Harris, the Raven speeding on ahead of them. Amy tended to the wounded scientists, doing her best to deal with their broken bones and burns, but she was no doctor. Even if the jump hole was open to them now, it would still be hours before they reached planet Siberia. The best she could do was just try to keep them alive until they got back to base. There wasn't really much more that she could hope to do for them out here, with the resources and skills that she had. 

As they approached the location of the jump hole, it became clear that the battleship _Churchill_ had indeed vacated the vicinity. The jump hole was open and clear for them to take. "We're going in," Todd said from the pilot's seat. The Raven was there nearby waiting for them to enter first, scouting around to make sure the area was clear of Military activity. 

The Sabre flew into the jump hole and headed through. When they emerged on the other side, there was a Nova there waiting for them. "Identify yourselves," said a voice over the comm. 

"This is Todd Michaels, the pirate," Todd said. The Raven came through the hole behind them. 

"Todd!" said the Nova. "Damn is it good to see you. What happened to the battleship?" 

"They just flew off a few hours ago," said the Raven. "We don't have any reason why, but I'm sure not complaining." 

"I'll signal base with the good news. Head on back. This is great news." 

The Sabre and the Raven set a course back for planet Siberia and headed there at top speed. Amy continued to try to tend to the wounded pirates, one of whom had fallen unconscious on their trip from planet Harris to the jump hole. His condition was worsening and she feared that he wasn't going to make it. He probably had a bad concussion. The other was barely conscious but both of his legs were broken, as he had gotten caught halfway under the collapse of a structure. 

"He's dying, Todd," Amy said quietly, looking to the first man. "I don't know what more I can do for him." 

"And the other one?" 

"I think he's going to make it." 

"Let's hope they're both still hanging on when we get down to Siberia, hon," Todd said. 

"It was my fault," Amy said. "I should have known better than to mess with that cannon." 

"Shh, there's no sense in blaming yourself," Todd insisted. "You couldn't have known this would happen. And we might still have been all dead anyway otherwise." 

"I should have had more forethought. I should have been able to predict that something like this would happen." 

"There wasn't enough time during the attack to sit around and concoct complicated battle strategies as to how we might safely fight off the Military fighters," Todd said. "When you're in the middle of a battle, sometimes you have to think on the fly, and mistakes can be made. But refusing to even try is accepting failure and willfully walking into death." 

"Where there is life, there is hope," Amy whispered. "We may call ourselves pirates, but what we really always wanted is freedom. Freedom from the Primos, and the Empire, and the Military, to live life as we choose, where we choose. Perhaps yet true freedom lies beyond the fringe, in worlds yet unseen by human eyes." 

"Are we doomed then to exile?" Todd asked. "Or to fly wherever we want, without being attacked by Military ships?" 

"We wouldn't be attacked if we paid lip service to the Empire," Amy muttered. "But even that little acknowledges their power over us and holds us subject to their laws and their ways. Why did I ever agree to this all?" 

"Because you love me," Todd said lightly, grinning. 

Amy chuckled softly. "There is always that, yes."


	62. Preliminary Negotiations.

Kalli woke the next morning, after a good sleep that was thankfully quiet and uninterrupted for a change. She hoped that her friends were doing alright back on planet Siberia and that the Chancellor's lackeys had finally been taken care of once and for all. After getting dressed, Kalli headed outside her door where she was met by one of the guards who was apparently doing his job of guarding her room, hopefully to be guarding her from anyone who was attempting to kill her and not to keep her in there. 

But then she recognized him as Roger. "Good morning, Kalli," he said. "Admiral Fischer has invited you to join him for breakfast in the private dining room. Would you like me to show you the way there?" 

"Hi Roger," Kalli said, grinning. "Yes, that would be nice. Let us be on the way then." 

"It's kind of funny how things work out," Roger said as he led her down the stairs. Kalli had to wonder why a palace on a high-tech planet had to have stairs, then figured it was their palace and they could have whatever they damned well pleased in it. It was a rather nice staircase, really. There were shiny polished brass railings and red patterned carpet in the middle of the floor where there wasn't stone that was on the edge. 

The private dining room was a small but elegant place, and Admiral Fischer was inside with three other admirals. Kalli was somewhat impressed by the blatant display of importance in the room, and tried not to disappoint them. 

"Ah, here she is, gentlemen," Admiral Fischer said. "This is Kalli May, of the Dancers on the Edge of Death. Kalli, allow me to introduce you to Admirals Johnson, Carter, and Jones." 

"A pleasure to meet you, sirs," Kalli said. 

"Please, be seated," Admiral Fischer gestured toward a chair across from them. "Breakfast will be arriving within a few minutes. Your arrival is most punctual." 

Kalli took her seat and tried to look important here. At least this was a fair sign that they weren't going to arrest her or throw her in a dungeon or something, at any rate. She wondered obliquely just how many admirals the Karzan Military had. 

"So you're the one I hear killed the Chancellor, is it?" Johnson said. "Do please not worry about anything anything potentially incriminating, dear. You were, after all, acting under direct orders from the Empress herself." 

Kalli nodded slightly. "Yes," she said simply. "He even tried to get me to join him, in the end. He's a sly manipulator and I'm not surprised that he managed to rise to the position of power that he did." 

"And why are we not pressing charges, Johnson?" Carter said. 

"The girl should be hailed as a hero," Johnson said. "Few people would be so loyal in carrying out the orders of the Empress. Would _you_ be, Carter?" 

"Of course I would follow the Empress's orders," Carter said indignantly. "But what proof do we have that it was really her orders? The Empress is not here to tell us this." 

"The Empress will return here as soon as I go back to planet Siberia with my report," Kalli said calmly. 

Their food was delivered about that time by a young serving maid, placing the ceramic plates on the table. There were pancakes, and bacon, and hash browns, along with some scrambled eggs, with butter, syrup, and ketchup to put on them. Kalli was hungry and after all she'd gone through with space travel, she never turned down real food, particularly good food. It was a welcome break from the tasteless monotony of space rations. 

"And what is our assurance that she is really there and you will not simply disappear and never be seen or heard from again?" Carter asked. 

"I presumed that an escort would be travelling with me," Kalli said. 

"And how do we know that you would not simply lead them into a trap?" Carter said. "Unless I am mistaken, you have available the Nova X-1 heavy fighter, the most powerful and advanced fighter ship available in the known galaxy. How do we expect to be on even ground with such?" 

"Carter, Carter, please, calm down," Fischer said. "Do forgive him, Kalli. Sometimes he gets overly enthusiastic in pursuing a matter." 

"In all honesty," Kalli said, "if we had wished to destroy your battleships and broken the blockade, we would have done so. We have made every effort to avoid doing such things except when absolutely necessary, and it simply was not necessary." 

"I would consider you simply as bragging if I did not know that the Novas had destroyed two of our battleships already," Jones put in. 

"Two?" Kalli said. She only knew of the one destroyed in the battle of Transylvania. 

"A report arrived early this morning of the destruction of the battleship _Custer_ in the Balzac system," Admiral Fischer explained. "The survivors indicate a squadron of Novas was responsible." 

"Why was there a battleship in the Balzac system in the first place?" Kalli said. 

"By order of the Chancellor," Johnson said. "Very strange orders, really. He had ordered the planet razed and colonized by Primos if the pirates did not fall into the trap he had intended to set. I did not approve of these actions." 

"Balzac is my home," Kalli said quietly, staring at her food. 

"Rest assured, Kalli," Fischer said, "the Military took far more losses there than the pirates or the inhabitants of the planet did. Few of the Balzac air fleet and none of the Novas were destroyed." 

"I'm afraid your battleships will shortly be obsolete," Kalli said. "They're better off functioning as space stations that can be moved around if necessary, now." 

"You may well be right," Jones said. "But what of the Novas?" 

"I will ensure that that technology is made freely available to everyone," Kalli said. "Much as it is nice to be the side that has a technological advantage, it is ultimately more beneficial to all concerned as well as more of a challenge for everyone to be on more or less even ground." 

"Ah, you Death Dancers with your high ideals," Jones said. "Never really think about what the consequences of your actions might entail. Just how much fun it would make your life. Heh." 

"Would you prefer the Novas to be only in the hands of those working _against_ the Karzan Empire?" Kalli asked. "I am willing to share this technology with the Karzan Military, but that is the only condition I wish to impose upon its use." 

"Civilians will never be able to afford to purchase one anyway," Jones said. "But if that is your desire, then I am certain that they shall be made available, as the alternative is unacceptable." 

"But what is your price?" Carter asked. "YOu offer us this great new technology, but never mention how much you want from _us_." 

"Firstly," Kalli said, "I ask for full amnesty for myself and for all of those involved in the matter. The Empress has already promised as much herself, but I'd just like to make that clear. I and my companions were, after all, working to neutralize clear threads to the Empire, not working agaisnt the Empire." 

"That much is understood," Fischer said. "I will make sure that none of you are so falsely accused." 

"More negotiations can be made at a later time when I have returned here with the Empress," Kalli said. "I just wanted to ensure that nobody tried to arrest us before that could be done." 

"Of course, Kalli, of course." 

Kalli finished up her pancakes and eggs and said, "If that will be all, good sirs, I believe I need to be getting back to Siberia to retreive our dear Empress from the frigid wasteland." 

"Ah, yes, of course," Admiral Fischer said. "Your escort should be ready and waiting for you at the palace landing platform in twenty minutes. Do please retreive your ship and signal them when you are ready to leave." 

"Very well," Kalli said. She stood up and bowed slightly to them. "It was a pleasure meeting you all. If you will excuse me, I will be off." 

"Good luck and safe journey, Kalli May," Johnson said. 

From there, Kalli left the private dining room and headed off outside the palace. She walked calmly down the street back toward the library where she had left her Griffon, glad for the break that at least nobody was attempting to kill her now. Mike was right. It really was a lot of fun being a Death Dancer, but a chance to relax now and again was needed to recharge in between. 

She got back to her ship and paranoidly checked to make sure her rations and everything were as she had left it. Some habits Death Dancers tended to develop weren't such a bad idea, however, she thought. Climbing inside, Kalli took off into the atmosphere and signalled the escort to join her. The four Barracudas and her Griffon entered formation and headed for the jump gate to Terra.


	63. I Think It's About Time Talia Woke Up.

Talia slowly regained consciousness, her spinning head preventing her from really focusing on anything. She groaned softly and tasted some sort of liquid cross her lips and managed to swallow it. She faded out again and woke some indeterminate time later. This time her vision was clearer and her head didn't hurt quite so much. 

"Where am I?" she murmured. 

"You are planet Balzac, in Porttown, in the May family house," a voice answered. "How are you feeling?" 

"Like I just had a grand piano fall on my head." 

"Why were you affected so strongly, anyway?" the woman asked. "You were on the surface during the attack." 

"It shouldn't have, really," Talia said quietly. "There had to have been hundreds of thousands of people on that battleship to affect me that strongly." 

"I mean, why did it affect you like that at all?" 

"Oh," Talia said. "They didn't tell you I'm a psyker?" 

"Oh! No, no, they didn't tell me that. Do you mind if I take a small genetic sample?" 

"Uh, sure, go ahead," Talia mumbled. She figured it wasn't exactly too much to ask if this woman had taken care of her the last few days she had been unconscious from the shock of the battleship's destruction. 

"Are you hungry? Would you like anything more to eat?" 

"I'm fine," Talia said. "I don't think I could keep anything else down right now." 

"Try to get some more rest. I hope you're feeling better soon." 

Talia dozed off again, this time into something more like real sleep. When she woke again, she was well-rested and feeling much better. The pain in her head was down to a dull ache that she could safely ignore. She was also feeling awfully hungry. Talia stood up slowly and carefully headed down to find something to eat. 

"Ah, there you are, Talia," the woman said. "How are you feeling?" 

"Much better, thank you," she said. "I don't believe I caught your name, ma'am." 

"Barbara May. Kalli's mother." 

"Oh, yes, of course," Talia said. She would have just scanned her for it, but she wasn't feeling up to doing any telepathy at the moment. 

"Here now," Barb said. "Sit yourself right down in that there chair and I'll fix you up some nice breakfast, if you're feeling up to it." 

"Yes, thank you, I'm feeling much better now," Talia said. She sat down in the chair. It was a simple wooden chair in a rather old-fashioned kitchen. There were nice green patterend curtains and wooden cupboards. 

Barb proceeded to prepare some food. She seemed to prefer to do it manually and appeared quite good at it, her smooth actions flawless and measured. It was an almost unnatural grace that convinced Talia that the woman really was a Cybion, even if she lacked the implants of most of those she had met. 

"I'll presume my friends already left," Talia said. 

"Oh, yes," Barb said. "They went off back through Epsilon. My brother-in-law was flying your ship, it seems." 

"That's good," Talia said. "I hope they make it back alright. There haven't been anymore attacks on Balzac while I've been out, have there?" 

"Nope," Barb replied. "Everything's been happily quiet out here again. And I do hope those Military folks decide not to come back. They made quite a right mess up there and we can't really clean it up until the radiation goes down a bit." 

"They didn't hurt the planet any, did they?" Talia asked. 

"Not at all," Barb said. "Your friends popped the ship while it was still far enough away, thankfully. Here's your breakfast, dear." Barb put a plate of scrambled eggs, hot buttered toast with worfberry jam, and some strips of bacon on the table in front of her and presented her with a spork with which to eat it. She also poured Talia a cup of cold fruit juice to go along with it. 

"Thank you very much, Mrs. May," Talia said. 

"Oh, please dear, call me Barb. Everyone else does." 

"Alright. Thanks, Barb." 

"How is the food?" Barb asked. 

"Quite delicious," Talia said. "After surviving on space rations for however long it's been, everything is delicious, though. No offense. But it really is quite good." 

"Of course, dear," Barb said. "Those rations are really quite vile. I wonder that they can't manufacture some that have better flavors, like chocolate and mint and roast beef." 

"I imagine if they did they'd somehow find a way to make them even more vile," Talia commented dryly. "I think I prefer it to be pretty tasteless, myself." 

"Now tell me, is Kalli really as great a pilot as they say? Do you think she'll succeed in her mission?" 

Talia nodded slightly. "She is indeed a great pilot. And I think if anyone can do it, she can." 

"Like how good?" Barb asked. 

"She took to it like a fish to water, or a bird to the sky. She does the difficult, the challenging, she does the impossible. She's a true-born Death Dancer and she's not afraid of anything. I have faith in her." 

Barb beamed happily. "That is most wonderful. I am quite pleased that she turned out so well. More than I had hoped or dreamed, beyond any of my expectations." 

Talia finished up her breakfast and wiped her mouth. "Thanks for the food. I'm feeling a lot better now. Mind if I take a walk outside for a bit?" 

"Oh, do be my guest, of course," Barb said. "I'm not your mother." She laughed lightly. "Nobody will bother you around here, I should hope." 

"Okay. I'll be back in a bit then. I'll just take it easy for now," Talia said. She headed outside. 

Porttown was a nice town, with trees and hedges along the road and no building taller than three storeys. It was difficult to tell that this was a twenty-sixth century town and not twentieth. The air was clean and fresh, and a cool breeze carried along the chirping of birds. Pretty flowers of puirple, yellow, and red bloomed along the edges of well-kept lawns. 

This was something one would never see on a Primo world. It would be inconceivable for Primos to have so much unused space, to have buildings that were not towering skyscrapers. One could never find flowers except indoors, or lawns except on the roofs of the very rich. The Primos focused on bringing forth life to the expense of all else, to the point where their worlds could no longer sustain them. It was no wonder that the fringe-worlders had worked so hard to keep Primos off their planets. 

It was how much the Primos were really missing that was sad. Terra, Primus, Secundus, Toronto, they had all been such beautiful worlds before the Primo religion had spread over them. And now they were sprawling metropolises of towering buildings and crowds of people that could not sustain themselves without the help of other worlds for food production. 

But it seemed unlikely that the Primos would ever stop. Kalli might end up saving the galaxy, but for what? To prevent billions of needed deaths? Or to merely delay the inevitable? The galaxy would never truly be saved until the Primos changed, and that seemed about as likely as asking a river to flow uphill, or gravity to reverse itself. And yet, their technology could make both of those things happen. Maybe it wasn't so impossible to change the hearts and minds of billions of people after all. Could telepathy really work on such a large scale? And even if it could, was it ethical to do so? 

Was it ethical to kill a million people to save yourself?


	64. Back to the Frigid Wasteland Again.

Kalli and her escort headed off toward Siberia. At her behest, they stopped at Terra itself along the way for lunch, then at Primus for dinner and sleep. Whether the conflict was over or not, she had more or less declared herself on vacation and wasn't about to survive off space rations all the way back there. 

In the morning, they flew on through the Lorres system. As they skirted the asteroid belt, Kalli spotted a large group of Ravens emerging from it heading on an intercept course for them. Their weapons were already charged and they were close enough to the field that they'd be in range in two minutes. She flipped on her comm and immediately sent them a signal. "Raven-class fighters, this is Kalli May of the Dancers on the Edge of Death on an important mission to the Siberia system. Stand down at once." 

"I don't know you," came the reply a moment later. "Why are you with these Military scum?" 

"I was at Cryces Base some weeks back with my friends, Mike Pratt and Jake Walker," Kalli said. "Now, I repeat. Stand down at once. I don't want to have to kill you." 

"You may be a Death Dancer, and you may be good, but I don't think you can take all twenty of us." 

The Ravens engaged them and began firing. Kalli broke formation and fired back, aiming to disable but not destroy. That was a lot easier to accomplish in a Griffon than a Nova at any rate, but she didn't think the Barracudas would be inclined to honor her wishes to not destroy them unless absolutely necessary. And she didn't believe it was really necessary. 

One by one she carefully dodged the Ravens' attacks and disabled their weapons. The Barracudas took some minor damage and destroyed a couple of the pirates. Kalli said, "Surrender at once or you _will_ be destroyed. This is your last warning." 

More of the Ravens were destroyed. Finally one said, "Damn it! Don't kill me! I surrender!" Two more did likewise, but the rest were all destroyed. 

"You will come with us," Kalli said. "And I won't have much patience for you if you try anything stupid on the way." 

She proceeded on course for the jump gate to Coventry, and the three pirate fighters fell into formation behind them. She didn't care what the Military fighters might say about this all, but they did have something to say. 

"What were you doing at Cryces Base?" asked one of the Barracudas. "You're associated with these pirates?" 

"Not directly," Kalli said. "They are, however, loosely affiliated with my group. Apparently too loosely, otherwise they'd have recognized my name and known better than to attack me." 

"Sorry," said one of the Ravens. 

"We fight for survival, mainly," Kalli said. "If somebody's trying to kill me, I'm not going to hesitate to shoot back, no matter what side they're on. The same goes when I've had Military fighters try to kill me for no apparent reason, when I wasn't even doing anything illegal. If you want to stay on my good side, just _don't shoot at me_ or my friends. It's that simple." 

"What if your friends are shooting at us?" the Military ship asked. 

"Then you've probably done something to deserve it and I'll shoot too." 

"That's debatable, but fine." 

They crossed through into Coventry and Kalli set course immediately for the jump hole to Siberia. She wasn't about to deal with those three idiots on a trip to another planet, much as she'd like to have something other than space rations for lunch. When they reached the jump hole, which was thankfully battleship-free today, she said, "I'll go through first and let them know not to shoot at you. Come through in about a minute or two afterward." 

"So you can let them know to prepare for an ambush?" one of the Barracudas said. 

"If there's an ambush waiting, my going through first wouldn't be the cause," Kalli said impatiently. "Ships can't move _that_ fast." She headed inside. After navigating through the tunnel, she emerged on the other sound and found a Nova waiting for her. "This is Kalli May of the Dancers on the Edge of Death," she said. "Please do not shoot at the guys who are coming through after me." 

"Great to see you again, Kalli," said the Nova. "How went the mission?" 

"Signal back to base," Kalli said. "Mission accomplished." 

The four Barracudas and three Ravens emerged from the jump hole. The Nova said, "Good work, Kalli. They'll be waiting for you at base." 

Kalli re-entered formation and headed off back to planet Siberia. One of the Barracudas said, "There's a Nova here! You were planning an ambush all along!" 

Kalli sighed. "The Novas have been standing watch over this system by my orders ever since we heard the news that the Chancellor was planning to attack us here. And besides, don't you think if I were trying to ambush you, that he would have like, attacked by now?" 

"You're just trying to get us back to your base so you can do whatever you want with us!" 

"For _what_ purpose?" Kalli said irritably. "We wouldn't stand anything to gain. Even if we wanted to rule the galaxy, we could have _done_ so, but we _do not_. Now, the Empress awaits us." 

They reached planet Siberia at last and came down for a landing at base. After climbing out of their ships, they found Mike and Jake waiting for them. Kalli went over and gave Mike a warm hug in the cold. "It's good to see you again, Kalli," Mike said. 

She kissed him. "It's good to see you, too." She glanced over to the pirates and the Military pilots. "Those three tried to attack me in the Lorres system." 

"Deal with them, Jake," Mike said. Jake nodded and gestured at them and took them off to base. "The Empress is in the command room waiting for you." 

Kalli nodded to the Military guys to follow and headed inside. When they reached the command room, Empress Alisa was there waiting as Mike had said, dressed somewhat more fittingly than she had been when Kalli first met her. "I have returned from my mission, Your Highness," Kalli said with a deep bow. 

"I am pleased at your return," Alisa said. "Report?" 

"My mission was successful," Kalli said. "The Chancellor is dead, as well as many of his top supporters. It is now safe for you to return to Toronto whenever you wish." 

"Excellent," the Empress said. "I will make the return trip in one of the Novas. They are considerably more comfortable than the Griffon I travelled here in." 

Kalli remembered something, and pulled out the signet ring from her jacket pocket. "Your Highness, do you wish this back?" 

There was a disapproving sound from the Military pilots behind her, and she wondered if she'd done something wrong. The Empress, however, merely said, "If you wish to be released from my service, I will grant that freely and without obligation. However, if you choose otherwise, you will be most welcome. I do not believe we conducted the proper ceremony beforehand." 

Kalli placed the ring on the table and said after a moment, "I would prefer to think about that on the return journey, if you will, Your Highness." 

"As you wish," Alisa said, scooping up the ring. "Notify me when the wing is ready to leave." 

Kalli nodded, and bowed. "I and my escort have not rested since Primus. We shall be ready leave in the morning." 

"That is acceptable. Dismissed."


	65. Jake Angsts Over Who To Screw.

Jake lay awake, thinking over things. He knew he'd have to give Warren some kind of answer one way or another before they left for Balzac in the morning to pick up more rations and see how Talia was doing. But he wasn't entirely sure what to tell him, and what the consequences of that might be. 

He wasn't really ready to settle down with one person right now, if ever. Life was long, and he was still young, barely twenty-five, in the prime of his life. Jake had never felt particularly inclined to tie himself to a single person, especially one so possessive as Warren. He didn't like the feeling of being owned like that, and not free to do whatever he wanted. Freedom was more valuable to him than anything else. 

But how would Warren react if he turned him down? He was a Dancer of Death, and they tended to be erratic sometimes. Well, it couldn't be so bad, he supposed. He and Warren had only known each other for a few weeks, after all, and Warren had surely been through this before if he expected people he had known for such a short period of time to be interested in him and only him. Jake wasn't the one being unreasoanble here, he told himself, it was Warren who was. 

In the morning, he would just have to tell Warren how he felt on the matter. Besides all that, he got along with Liam a good deal better. Furthermore, he could understand what Liam was trying to say most of the time. Jake wasn't sure if Warren used weird words to make himself look smart intentionally, or if that was overly common in whatever town on Sydney he was from. Either way, it was kind of bizarre and not particularly helpful for communication. 

Jake drifted off to sleep still pondering on the matter. Everything would be fine in the morning. After a long, restful sleep, he woke up, stretched, and headed down into the mess hall for a wonderful breakfast of space ration and weak tea. 

In the mess hall, Liam was there, but Warren was nowhere in sight. Just as well. He could find the Rabbit when he was done eating and could talk to Liam a bit first. He grabbed some food and tea and headed over to Liam's table, waving. 

"Sleep well?" Liam said. 

"Sure," Jake said. "I was just thinking things over a bit." 

"Hey, as I said yesterday, if you want to stay with Warren, that's fine by me," Liam said. "I don't mean to get involved where I don't belong." 

"No, don't worry about it," Jake said. 

"I mean it, Jake," Liam said. "You have to go where your heart tells you. You have to follow what you believe in and say what you feel. Nobody else can tell you what to do or be. You just have to be yourse-- mmph." 

Jake cut off Liam's speech with a kiss on the lips. "And I mean to do just that," he said quietly. 

"You taste of space ration," Liam whispered. 

"So do you," Jake said. "I'm going to go let Warren know before we leave for Balzac. Think I'll be okay, or might I need a guy with a blaster set to stun on ready?" 

"Well, considering his reactioon to me just existing..." 

"Good point. Grab one and come along, then, but stay out of sight unless there's trouble, okay?" 

Liam nodded, finishing up his tea. "Sure thing." He located a blaster and stuck it at his belt and followed Jake off to Warren's room. He remained out of sight as Jake knocked on the door. They hadn't had time to install any real doorbells or control panels in the living quarters, so that still had to be done the old-fashioned way. 

"Enter," came Warren's voice from inside. 

Jake opened the door and went into the room, suddenly unsure just how he was going to say this. "Hey," he said nervously. "How are you?" 

"I would deduct by your tone and anxiety that you are not present to proclaim your undying affection toward me and your desire to remain with me for an extended period of time, therefore I would declare that I am currently not of a particularly felicitous disposition." 

Jake stared at him for a long moment, wishing that he had a dictionary with him in which to look up "felicitous", and wondering if Warren was even using the word correctly in the first place. "Er, yeah," Jake said, figuring that it was probably best if he did the talking. "Look, I'm sorry about the entire mess, but I think we'll both be better off if I just go my own way, okay?" 

"If that is the conclusion you so desire, then I will not initiate any attempt at which to prevent you from doing so," Warren said. 

"Right. Yeah. Thanks," Jake said. "Goodbye, then, Warren." He scuffled out of the room and closed the door behind him with a sigh. He gave Liam a fairly helpless look. "Let's head for Balzac," he said quietly. 

Behind him in Warren's room he could hear the sounds of sobbing. He stopped and looked back at the door sadly for a long moment before turning away, wiping a tear from his own eye as he headed down toward the corridor to the landing platform. It was never destined to be, but he had hurt the poor Rabbit, and he felt bad about that regardless. He had never intended to hurt him. 

"There was nothing you could do, Jake," Liam murmured as they went outside into the cold. 

"I could have not gotten involved with him in the first place," Jake replied. "I should know better by now than to sleep with every willing guy on every planet I stop at." 

"Well, why not?" Liam said. "It's not like this is the twenty-second century when they still had annoying diseases and such." 

"Some people take everything so personally, though," Jake said. 

"You have to be yourself," Liam said. "You can't let anyone else dictate who or what you want to be." 

Liam would never seek to try to hold him down, Jake realized. He valued freedom just as much as Jake did, and he appreciated that. "Liam," he said, patting him on the shoulder. "I think I love you." 

Liam laughed lightly. "You just think, huh? Well, that's okay." Liam gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Do you want to head back to Balzac through Kyber, or around through Tau and use the jump gate?" 

"Let's take Tau," Jake said. "I haven't been able to use an actual jump gate in weeks. It'll be a refreshing change." 

Jake headed to his freighter and Liam took the Nova Jake had flown, and they headed off to the jump hole to the Tau system, leaving behind the cold air of Siberia for now.


	66. Heroes and Fools.

Kalli woke up after a troubled rest the next morning. She wasn't at all sure what to do about the Empress's offer. Wearily, she headed down to the mess hall, grabbed some ration and tea, and located Mike. She waved at him and headed over to sit across from him. 

"Good morning, Kalli," Mike said. "Have any interesting dreams?" 

"Nah, not really," Kalli said. "When we fly back to Toronto, will you fly co-pilot to me? I just want to talk to you on the way. In private." 

"Sure thing," Mike said with a smile. "You sure the Military folks won't shoot at us on the way? They're always a right silly bunch." 

Kalli shook her head. "They agreed to grant full amnesty to anyone who was involved in this who wants it." 

"I wonder how many years back they intended to pardon crimes for," Mike commented wryly. 

Kalli chuckled. "Besides, I'm sure they won't shoot at us with the Empress with us and the Chancellor dead. I'm fairly certain I nailed most of his high-ranking supporters." 

"How did you manage it, anyway?" Mike asked. "Did the snake trick work?" 

"In a way," Kalli said. "I let loose several of the snakes in the conference hall where he was meeting with a number of supposedly important people. Most of them were killed, but the Chancellor escaped. I then snuck into his office and stuck a snake in his desk. Apparently, he sensed the snake there, but failed to notice the poisoned needle I had put in his chair." 

Mike gave a wide smile. "Good work, hon. Always ready with a backup plan in case something goes wrong." 

Kalli finished up her ration and drained her tea. "Shall we go and see if people are ready?" 

"Let's." They headed out of the mess hall and out onto the landing platform. People were preparing for the trip. They would take five Novas, and Empress Alisa would ride on point in a Nova piloted by Marina Shea. Lyle Hughes, Kalli, and two of the Military pilots who had escorted her to Siberia would fly the other two. 

In a way, the Empress coming to Siberia did more to cement relations with her and the Empire than anything else they could have done, and it wasn't even intended. Most of the pirates had never seen her and barely knew her name, but her very presense among them had spurred an inexplicable loyalty. They loved her. 

The five Novas flew out from the atmosphere of planet Siberia and fell into formation as they set a course for the jump hole to the Coventry system again. Once they were well on their way, Kalli switched off her comm and looked to Mike. 

"So what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" Mike said quietly. 

"What was the deal with that ring, anyway?" Kalli asked. 

"Just a misunderstanding, I think," Mike said. "People sometimes don't realize that not everyone might know something when they generally deal with people who do." 

"I gathered that," Kalli said. "But what _does_ it mean?" 

"The ring is the symbol of service to the Emprses herself," Mike explained. "Superceding all other authority. The Empress's own are subject to no laws but those of the Empress herself. It's rarely given except to those she trusts absolutely, and a betrayal of that means death. A lucky thing though that she realized you didn't know what it really meant." 

Kalli turned and stared out the window for a long moment. "Why _me_?" she wondered. 

"Well," Mike said, "I think she likes you. I haven't exactly had much opportunity to observe and draw any solid conclusions, though." 

"What do you think I should do?" Kalli asked. 

"It's entirely up to you," Mike said. "Whatever your choice, I'll support you completely either way." He gently rested his hand on her knee. 

"I don't really know," Kalli said with a sigh. "She sounded disappointed." Kalli went quiet for a while again, and they crossed through the jump hole and set course for planet Coventry. "Would you do it? Tell me honestly. This I'll-support-you crap is nice, and I appreciate it, but it's not really very helpful." She smiled gently at him. 

Mike chuckled softly. "Well," he said, "I really don't know. I've been fighting the Empire for all of my life, from the forests of Hamilton to the skies of Toronto. But it wasn't Empress Alisa's doing. That war has been going on since before she was even born. Perhaps in such a position, I might be able to change things for the better." 

"With the Chancellor out of the way..." Kalli trailed off. 

"She'll listen," Mike said. "Unless I'm _way_ off the mark here. I'd like to think I'm a pretty good judge of people." 

They landed on planet Coventry for lunch. The people there were quite excited to see the Empress, as they had dropped the pretense of secrecy with the death of the Chancellor, but Alisa insisted on eating at a small, quaint deli. The proprietor likewise insisted on giving them a large discount on their tasty sandwiches with lettuce, cheese, turkey, tomato, pickles, and mayonnaise on a whole wheat bun. 

The squadron then set off again and headed toward the jump gate to the Lorres system. Kalli settled down into the pilot's seat again, her stomach full now, and continued to think about the Empress's offer. If she really could make a difference, wouldn't it be worth it? Even if she couldn't after all, would it be such a bad thing? 

She didn't have to give the Nova technology to the Empire, after all. She had promised it freely, however, and freely she would give it to them. Was it really hers to give? It's creators were dead and gone and had intended only ill with it, and she had after all been the one to steal the technology from them. However, it had been the pirate engineers who had studied the designs of the Nova and produced more of them, and the hands of Mike and Talia and the killer bunnies that had obtained the luminite with which to build them. Nothing existed in a vacuum, and no one ever really accomplished anything completely alone. 

As they crossed the Lorres system toward the jump gate to Primus and came closest to the Cryces Asteroid Field, a large wing of Ravens poured out from the rocks toward them. Mike immediately switched on the comm and said, "Raven fighters! This is Michael Pratt of the Dancers on the Edge of Death. Stand down at once." 

"Why are you with these Military scum?" asked the lead ship. 

"That is my business alone," Mike said. "I repeat. Stand down at once or you will be destroyed." 

"I'd like an explanation, Mike. Have you betrayed us now, after all these years? Perhaps your new friends don't realize you've worked with us? Perhaps you'd like a little battle-test of those funny new ships of yours." 

Kalli growled. "Don't be a fool. _One_ Nova could take down your entire fleet without breaking a sweat. What do you think you're going to accomplish here? Besides anger the Empress and the Death Dancers both and convince them that it's time to move in and take care of you once and for all." 

The Ravens came into range, but did not open fire. There was a long pause. "I don't believe you. You're bluffing," said the leader. 

"You are _not_ getting me killed, you idiot," said one of his wingmen. 

"I am not a coward," said the lead ship. "I am not afraid of death." 

"You are not a Death Dancer," said the wingman. "Death Dancers have more common sense than that. Let's _go_." 

"No!" cried the leader, opening fire on Lyle's ship. Before the Novas could even fire back, the Ravens laid into him en masse, destroying the ship quickly and decisively. 

"I apologize for my former wing leader's behavior," said the one who had spoken before. "We will escort you to the gate if you wish." 

"Very well," said Empress Alisa over the comm. "Let us be off." The fleet continued off back toward the jump gate to the Primus system. 

Kalli switched off the comm and said to Mike, "How do they detect passing ships like that if they're inside the Cryces Field?" 

"They have sensor buoys placed all around this system, like in Transylvania," Mike explained. "Just far enough away from the rocks that the sensors still work properly. They relay the information back into the field. Coronite doesn't hinder communications after all." 

When they reached the jump gate, the Ravens broke formation and headed back toward Cryces Base, wishing them a safe, swift journey. Some while later they landed on planet Primus for dinner and sleep.


	67. The Dawning of a New Era.

After breakfast, they set off away from planet Primus and toward the jump gate to Terra. As they flew onward, Kalli glanced over at Mike in the co-pilot's seat. He was calmly monitoring the sensors for any anomalous readings. 

Kalli switched off the comm. "Mike," she said, "what will you do if I do?" 

Mike licked his lips thoughtfully. "I want to stay with you no matter what you decide to do, if I can. If you'll have me." 

"I would be happy to have you by my side," Kalli said. "No matter what happens, in war and in peace, in darkness and in light." 

He stared at her for a long moment before saying, "I would dance the dance of death with you, until death comes to claim us both. As two in one and the fiery suns, may nothing stand between us." 

She reached out and took his hand, and gave a small smile. They were not officially married, not yet, without witnesses, but it was an oath as strong as marriage. Kalli knew at once what her decision must be. 

The convoy stopped on Terra for a quick lunch before heading off to the Toronto system. From there it was just a short jump before they were back on planet Toronto, coming in for a landing at the Imperial Palace. The group disembarked from their ships and paraded into the palace with little fanfare. The Empress ordered a celebratory feast that evening to commemorate her return and the dawning of a new era, and the removal of the usurpers who had been entrenched in the Karzan government for decades. It would be some hours though, as it was only early afternoon on this part of planet Toronto. 

Roger approached her and said, "Hey, Kalli. Would you mind collecting those snakes of yours before the banquet this evening?" 

"They still haven't been removed?" Kalli said in surprise. "I'll go find them, then." 

She grabbed a bag and pulled on her gloves and headed off to round up the wood snakes. The two in the Chancellor's office were still there, apparently pretending that his potted plants were a jungle. The four snakes that had been let loose in the conference room had, however, found their way into the secret passageways and took some effort tracking down. There hadn't been any fatalities, though, as the snakes had avoided the people in the palace, although there had been a few scares. 

Kalli headed back with the bag, and held it aloft. "Six Hamilton wood snakes, ready to be shipped home. Or to a zoo, or something." 

"I'm sure the guests will be glad," Mike said wryly. 

A servant took the bag of snakes to take away. The feast was prepared and ready. Kalli was nervous, but she realized that she shouldn't be. When death no longer held fear for a person, all else paled in comparison. She knew what she had to do. 

The guests were gathered and took their seats at the tables. There were high-ranking officers in the Karzan Military, including Admiral Fischer whom Kalli recognized. There were dignitaries and ministers, heads of corporations and religious leaders. All of them had dropped whatever plans they had and come on a few hours notice to this banquet. 

Empress Alisa entered the room from the far end, stopping to stand on a dais at the end of the banquet ball. "I bid you all welcome," she said, some hidden amplification device allowing her voice to carry easily to the far corners of the room. "Ladies and gentlement, subjects and citizens, soldiers and pilots, men and women of life and of death, comrades, colleagues, and friends," she said, giving a faint smile at the last word. "I have gathered you all here today to proclaim a momentous occasion. The beginning of a new era for the Karzan Empire, for all those who live within it, to the fringes, and beyond. 

"As you have no doubt already heard, the Chancellor is dead. The man who killed my parents--" there were gasps and faint whispers from the crowd, "--and would have killed me as well had I not had the loyal and selfless Death Dancer Lyle Hughes at my side." People craned their necks to see where he was sitting, and some of those closest to him patted him on the back. "The Chancellor's reign of oppression and bigotry is ended. We shall turn back from the dark road he has driven us upon and set a new course into the light of freedom and friendship. 

"Therefore, I hereby declare this day a new feast day to commemorate the occasion. Feast upon the generosity of the Empire, and celebrate the coming of change," Alisa finished. She looked to the crowd and for a moment Kalli could swear Alisa was looking straight at her. "Does anyone have anything to say before we eat?" 

This was her chance. Her heart was fluttering in her chest, but she shoved aside her fear and anxiety and pushed herself to her feet. All their eyes were upon her as the room grew quiet. Kalli was wearing a clean blue jacket with the Death Dancer symbol in red prominantly displayed on her left breast and her back. 

"Come, Kalli," Alisa said. Kalli stepped away from the table and walked over toward the dais at the far end of the room. Everything seemed in slow motion as her combat instincts reacted to her nervousness and went into overdrive. There was nothing to be afraid of, she told herself. She was doing the right thing. She approached the dais and dropped to her knees in front of the Empress. 

"I wish to pledge my life to you, if you will have me," Kalli said. "If not, then may you strike me down here and now that I may face death for you." 

"I will hear you out," Alisa said. "Speak." 

Kalli was silent for a long moment as she searched for words, but she was sure that to the onlookers there must have hardly been a second of delay. She tried to make sure that she wasn't speaking too quickly, or mumbling and garbling her words. She didn't want to screw this up after having come this far. 

"From this moment forward, my life belongs to you and no one else. For you I will fly into darkness and into light, I will face the fire of the suns and the cold of space, I will bring death and face death. Whatever you so command me, I will do gladly. For you I will dance upon the edge of death. This I do swear, before the gods of life and death, that it may bind me forevermore." 

There was a long pause, and Empress Alisa pulled out an object from a pocket. "I do hereby accept your oath, Kalli May." She took Kalli's right hand and slid the signet ring onto it. "May you serve me well for many long years. Rise, Dancer of Death." Kalli stood slowly. With Empress Alisa standing on the steps, their eyes were level with one another. There was a clattering sound behind her that after a moment registered as applause. "Come. Let us feast." Alisa headed over toward the middle table, where the chair at the end and two chairs on one side had been left empty. "You and your partner may eat by my side tonight." 

Alisa and Kalli sat. Mike came and sat next to Kalli as the first course was brought out. He leaned over and gave her a kiss and a big smile. Across from them, Marina and Lyle were seated. "The dawning of a new era, indeed," Marina said. She raised her glass and said, "Long live Empress Alisa!" Her blessing was echoed around the room.


	68. Back and Forth. Back and Forth.

Talia saw a Nova and several freighters come in to land on the platform in Porttown. Eagerly she rushed down the street to meet them. She was more or less fully recovered by this point. Seeing the freighters was a great sign that the blockade had ended. 

"Talia!" Jake called as he hopped out of his ship. "Great to see you're okay." 

"The battleships are gone?" Talia said. "Tell me everything I've missed!" 

"They're gone," Jake said. "Kalli was successful. The Chancellor is dead." 

"This is wonderful news," Talia said. "Where are they now?" 

"Heading back to Toronto with the Empress." 

"I should head back that way, too," Talia said. "And meet up with Anderos again. He's still on Siberia isn't he?" 

Jake nodded. "What do you say we load up this haul of food and head back to Siberia, unload and pick up Anderos, and then head to Toronto?" 

"Sounds good to me," Talia said. 

"Let's get some lunch at my brother's house," Liam said. "I'm sure Barb will be delighted to see us." 

Talia giggled and they headed back down the street toward the May house. As they came in the door, Barb took one look at them and said, "Liam! You and your friend will just have to go right upstairs and take a bath before you're sitting down at my table." 

"No complaints here," Liam said coyly. He and Jake went upstairs. Talia chuckled softly. 

"Those silly boys," Barb said. "Always tracking dirt into the house. And I don't care if Liam is pushing fifty, he's still a boy." 

Talia offered to help with lunch, and by the time the guys got done with cleaning up, a pot of soup and a plate full of sandwiches were ready for them. Leonard came in and joined them and grabbed a half a sandwich for himself before putting in another corny ninja holovid. 

"Well, Talia," Barb said. "I suppose you'll be heading off with your friends again now?" 

Talia nodded. "We're going to go meet up with Kalli on Toronto. With the Chancellor dead, hopefully all this mess will settle down again for now." 

"Well, when you see her, do tell her to get back here and tell me _all_ about it," Barb said. "Or at least send a message by relay if she can't make it out all this way to see her mother for some reason." 

"I'll be sure to let her know," Talia said with a grin. She munched on her tasty sandwich with tomato, lettuce, pickles, and cheese and drank her ice cold worfberry juice. 

"Thanks for lunch," Jake said. "I think they should have the freighters loaded up by now, so we'd best get going." 

"Have a safe journey," Barb said. "And don't forget to tell Kalli that!" 

"Bye, Barb," Talia said. They headed out to the landing platform where the freighters were ready and waiting for them. Jake decided to fly with Liam in the Nova, leaving Talia the freighter to pilot. It suited her fine enough as long as they didn't run into any cruisers or battleships along the way, but with any luck that part was all over for now. 

The convoy set off from planet Balzac and headed for the jump gate to the Moosehead system. Jump gates were a luxury Talia hadn't had for a while, and it was relaxing to not have to navigate the irregular twists and turns of a jump hole to get from system to system. It would be a relaxing trip back to Siberia, and then she would meet up with Anderos again. After several hours, they crossed through Moosehead into Tau, and from Tau to the jump hole to Siberia. 

"Welcome back," said the Nova on watch on the Siberia side of the jump hole. "Do I really need to keep standing watch here?" 

"For now I would," Talia said. "Until we're sure everything has settled down at least. I don't want any surprises." 

"I've signalled base that you're coming." 

They headed back toward planet Siberia. It was getting to be an almost welcome sight these days. In spite of the inhospitable climate, it was safe from the influences of the Empire. Probably because the Empire didn't want it. It was barely habitable for long periods of time under the best conditions. 

The convoy landed back at base on Siberia and they began to unload the food supplies. It was primarily another batch of space rations just to make sure the colony was well enough supplied with food to last for some time. After helping a bit with that, Talia went inside to get a bite to eat and locate Anderos. 

"There you are, Talia," Anderos said. He was eating in the mess hall. Talia got some tea and food and joined him. 

"Up for a trip up to Toronto?" Talia said. 

"As long as nobody's going to be shooting at me," Anderos said. "And that includes fighters, Novas, cruisers, destroyers, battleships, transports, freighters, and armed target drones." 

Talia laughed. "I'm sure everything will be fine. We can take Novas and let somebody else pilot them if you're so paranoid about it." 

"There's supposedly ways to block out that effect," Anderos said. "But it's been so long since it was even relevant that it's not regularly taught anymore. There's so many skills we used to have that are all but lost to us, or that remain unused for ethical reasons." 

"I don't know," Talia said. "The entire ethics question is open for debate, really." 

"The ends doesn't justify the means, Talia," Anderos murmured. "There are some things that it's just not right to do no matter what the circumstances are." 

"Right," Talia said. "Like it's not right to steal and kill?" She smirked. 

Anderos said, "You do have a point, but it's a very slippery and dangerous slope." 

"If some good can be accomplished, why should it be banned?" Talia said quietly. "Things are just tools that can be used for good or for ill." 

"Even someone with the best of intentions may too easily decide to abuse them, though." 

Talia shook her head. "People who are going to abuse things will abuse them whether others do or not, whether they are allowed or not. It won't stop them." 

"It ends up making us no better than them, though," Anderos argued. 

"That's a fairly moot point if people end up dead or under their control," Talia said. "But I think this is a discussion for a later time. I don't think the Chancellor's death is going to solve all of the galaxy's problems, however. There are deeply ingrained issues that go much deeper than one corrupt official that won't just resolve themselves overnight." 

"You're probably right about that," Anderos said. "We have to do things one step at a time, and removing the threat from Donovan Blake and the Chancellor is two big steps in the right direction." 

"It may not be the end, but it means that there is still hope."


	69. Blatant Ripoff of Star Trek.

Kalli sat in her room staring at her ring. It was such at simple thing, and yet here she was, bound for life. She had to wonder if this had really been such a good idea after all. Even now, she still wasn't entirely sure what this all meant and what the implications of it might end up being. 

Mike entered the room, and she looked up and smiled at him. He smiled back and approched her, giving her a kiss on the cheek and putting his arms around her waist from behind. "Hey," he said quietly. "How are you?" 

"I think I ate too much at that banquet last night," Kalli said. 

Mike chuckled softly. "Well, so how do you feel about working for the Empress now? You're all playing both sides of the game now. Kind of funny, really." 

"Bah, why would the pirates listen to me now?" Kalli said. "It's not like everyone and their mother isn't going to know this after saying that in front of that entire banquet yesterday like that." 

"You'd be surprised," Mike said. "Well, some of the outlying places like Cryces might still be idiots, but for what I've seen, most everyone on Siberia seems to love her now. And after all you've done for them, what with the battle of Transylvania and all, I can't see how they could possibly hold it against you in any way, shape, or form." 

"Maybe you're right," Kalli said. "It was just frustrating when we were attacked near Cryces base both on the way to Siberia and on the way back, and people being stubborn idiots and refusing to listen to sense." 

"Well, there's a few less idiots at Cryces now at least," Mike said. "Don't sweat too much over it, hon. Shall we head down to get breakfast or something?" 

"Ugh, don't even mention food to me right now," Kalli groaned. "Maybe something to drink, though." 

They headed downstairs and shortly found the kitchens, which were all too happy to provide them with icy cold worfberry juice. Mike likewise picked up a couple slices of toast with worfberry jam and some tomato juice. "The Empress would like to see you in the private dining room," said one of the servants. 

Kalli nodded and thanked her, and headed up that way, Mike trailing along beside her. She had to pull out her scanner which had recorded the map of the area on her first visit here to locate it again, but she got there without any problems and headed inside. Around the small table there was the Empress seated with Admirals Fischer and Johnson. 

"Ah, good to see you're awake, Kalli," Alisa said. "Please, be seated." 

"Was I invited, or shall I just leave?" Mike asked. 

Alisa chuckled lightly. "You too, do sit. This concerns you as well." 

Kalli and Mike sat at the table across from them. "Oh, so you wanted to discuss business and not just food?" Mike said. "Works for me." 

"With the old Chancellor dead," Alisa said, "the position for a new Chancellor is open. Would you be interested in the job, Michael Pratt?" 

Mike blinked for a moment and almost dropped his toast. "Me?" he said. 

Admiral Fischer chuckled. "Somebody competent and less likely to abuse the position _is_ needed, after all." 

"But I'm a Death Dancer," Mike said. "I'm a warrior, not a bureaucrat." 

"You've survived as a Death Dancer longer than most," Johnson put in. "There aren't really many old Death Dancers, as I'm sure you are aware. They either die or retire eventually." 

"I'm not old," Mike said. "I'm only thirty-two. And true Death Dancers never really retire. It's a way of life, not an occupation. What, have you been sitting here discussing this before we even got in here?" 

Fischer chuckled. "Just a bit." 

Mike sighed. "Look, I appreciate the offer, but no. I abhor desk jobs. I'd rather be out in space flying around." 

Alisa gave a small smile. "The offer has been made, but I did not expect you to accept. There are other jobs available which I meant to discuss with both of you." 

Kalli sipped her worfberry juice. "What sort of jobs?" 

"With the advent of the Nova X-1 heavy fighter," Admiral Fischer said, "we believe it's possible to begin exploration beyond the fringe again." 

Mike sat upright, leaning his elbows on the table, "Now that, I'm interested in." 

"I thought you might be," Alisa said with a wry little grin. "I am willing to grant the two of you whatever resources you need in order to accomplish this, however I don't believe it will be fast, easy, or maybe even particularly exciting at times. However, I believe it is necessary to expand our knowledge of the galaxy and locate new planets upon which people may settle." 

"When do we leave?" Mike said brightly. 

"What do you think of the proposal, Kalli?" Alisa asked, turning to her. 

"I think it sounds great," Kalli said. "The main reason I left home in the first place was because I wanted to explore and see the galaxy for myself. I look forward to it." 

"I'd suggest a larger ship with more of a crew, myself," Mike said. "The Nova is great and all, but even it can get a little cramped on long journeys, and an engineer would be essential if anything malfunctions, since neither me nor Kalli are well-trained in that area of expertise. Likewise, a scientist would be useful to actually be able to study astronomical phenomena. And a doctor in case anyone gets hurt or sick--" 

"It is under consideration," Alisa said. "Sending a full-sized cruiser might be more ideal, but they are much too large to be able to get through a jump hole safely." 

"You can, however, go up to about freighter size and still be able to get through a jump hole without much trouble," Mike said. "And that would also be more than enough room for five or six people and the necessary equipment and supplies. Not to mention what would be more useful is an automated drone that can navigate jump holes on its own to be able to tell what jump holes are safe to use without actually like going in and dying." 

"We'll be working on this technology shortly," Admiral Fischer said. "Once the plans for the Nova are in our hands we'll work on constructing larger ships which make use of the luminite core. You guys were right about our battleships becoming obsolete. Smaller freighter-sized ships may be the wave o the future now. The ability to use jump holes safely is no less of a consideration, as well. If you have anything else in particular you wish to see on this ship we'll be designing, do let me or my team know, since it'll be you that has to fly the thing after all." 

"I'll be sure to do that, thanks," Mike said. "Just think, Kalli! It'll be wonderful! Having a ship and crew, and exploring strange new worlds, boldly going where nobody's gone before!" 

"I imagine that we'll get out there and run into some insane hermit Death Dancers on some planet in the middle of nowhere," Kalli said dryly. 

"That's... entirely possible," Mike said. "But think of the action! The adventure! Fearlessly delving into the unknown!" 

"I hate to ruin your enthusiasm, but it'll be weeks yet before you'll leave anyway," Fischer said, chuckling. "We haven't even _designed_ the ship yet, after all." 

"No worries," Mike said. "I'll just watch episodes of _Star Trek_ in order to get in the proper frame of mind for the mission." 

"Do feel free to do that," Alisa said. "I have others in mind for potential candidates for the job of Chancellor. If you have no other comments to make on your upcoming mission, you may go and watch your _Star Trek_ if you so desire." 

"Nothing right now. Thank you, Your Highness." He made a cursory bow as he headed out of the room, Kalli following. When they were outside, he said, "Have you ever watched _Star Trek_?" Kalli shook her head. "Well, then, let's go introduce you to Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, shall we?"


	70. Them Darn Psykers.

Talia's convoy arrived on planet Toronto after making the journey from Siberia and landed at the Imperial Palace. They disembarked and Talia went over to Anderos, grinning. "Here we are, back at Toronto at least." 

"And with nobody trying to kill us, too," Anderos said. "I'm surprised. That was a right boring trip if I do say so myself. I can't complain." 

They headed into the palace, leaving Liam and Jake babbling behind them about some novel they were writing or something. "Let's see what they have to eat around here," Talia said. 

"Probably the same things they have to eat everywhere else in the Karzan Empire," Anderos said. 

"No, no, I mean in ths palace! Aren't palaces supposed to have neat special fancy food or something?" 

"I wouldn't know," Anderos replied. "I haven't really made it much of a habit to frequent the Imperial Palace often." 

One of the palace guards approached them. "Are you Talia Richards and Anderos Velarh?" he asked, looking at a data pad. 

"If that's an arrest warrant, then no, we're not," Talia said smoothly. 

"Heh. No, of course not. The Empress has cleared all charges against you, but she'd like to speak to you and informed me to let you know if this when you arrived. I'll take you to her if you want to go right now." 

"Right, sure," Talia said. 

They followed the guard through the palace up the stairs and into a small room with chairs and a table. The Empress was seated at the table along with an admiral and another woman who was probably important. "Ah, you have arrived at last," the Empress said. "Please, be seated." 

Talia and Anderos sat at the table across from the Empress. A servant offered them drinks, and they politely accepted. Talia took a sip of the cold worfberry juice and said, "So why did you wish to see us, Your Highness?" 

"There are matters of some importance which I wished to discuss with you," Empress Alisa said. "As you are well aware, the office of the Chancellor is now open again. Upon reviewing the matter and perusing some records pertinant to the matter, it behooves me to offer that position to Anderos Velarh." 

Anderos was surprised. "I, Your Highness?" 

"Yes," Alisa said. "I have found your record to be most satisfactory and have confidence that you would not abuse the position as the former Chancellor had." 

"You are aware, Empress, that I am a psyker as well, yes?" 

"I am well aware of that fact, Anderos," said the Empress. "I have my own reasons for making this offer, as I am sure you know." 

"And that this is not a potential conflict of interest?" Anderos said. 

"I do not believe so, no," Alisa said. "I believe you will better support my own ideals than the former Chancellor did by far." 

"Well, you do have a point there," Anderos muttered. "I will take your offer into consideration, if you will. It is, after all, quite a commitment." The office of the Chancellor was for life. 

"Of course," Empress Alisa said. "I would not expect you to take it without any forethought. Take all the time you need." She turned to Talia. "Now, as for you, I have other things in mind at the moment." 

"What sort of things, Your Highness?" Talia asked. She was a bit concerned about this entire business, really. Anderos was right about the conflict of interest, when they belonged to an organization that was intent upon overthrowing the Karzan Empire, not merely making it safe to fly around without being shot at for some pirates. However, perhaps that was no longer necessary after all, if Anderos was going to end up with a high-ranking position in the Karzan government. He would be more than capable of turning policies to their ideals. 

"Many other positions are also open at the moment," the Empress said. "Kalli's slithery tactics were most effective in eliminating many of those who most likely supported the former Chancellor. Any of these positions which interest you are open for your taking." She handed Talia a data pad with a list of positions. 

Talia took it and looked over the list. The Chancellor had had control of all of these people? There were over a dozen positions on the list! Perhaps Kalli had done far more for them than simply remove the threat of the Chancellor if this was true. She hadn't had any idea that his control extended quite that far. "I will, likewise, give it some consideration," she said quietly. "These people were all under the control of the Chancellor?" 

"So we believe," Empress Alisa said. "It is doubtful that he would have allowed them all into his private conference were they not, particularly judging by the discussions Kalli reports as having overheard during her mission." 

"What sort of discussions?" Talia asked. 

"Their intentions to raze the colony on Balzac to prepare it for Primos, for one," Alisa said. "The battleship _Custer_ being sent there was a trap for your people, but they had not expected you to be able to go through Epsilon, so you were able to reach there first and eliminate the threat before it got into range of the planet." 

"Why would they want to do that?" Talia asked in shock. "The Primo planets can't sustain themselves without a constant supply of food from Balzac and the other fringe colonies. They would only be dooming themselves to starvation that way." 

"I do not understand the reasons for their actions," Empress Alisa said. "Nor is it possible to question them on such now, with the majority of them having died. We do, however, have a prisoner whom we intend to interrogate over the matter, and hopefully discover any further operatives that had been working for the Chancellor that remain alive now." 

"If you require any assistance in the interrogation, I would be glad to offer my services," Anderos said. 

The Empress nodded. "It is probably a good idea, as I am uncertain as to whether the psyker we have working on him was working for the former Chancellor himself as well. Our prisoner is, himself, a psyker, and our interrogator claims that he is having difficulty peentrating the prisoner's shields. If you wish to take a look yourself, someone shall escort you to the dungeon." 

"I'll go as well," Talia said, putting the data pad into her jacket pocket. 

"I will show you to where he is being held," the admiral said. "I am most interested in hearing what he knows." 

The admiral escorted them down to the dungeon to the cell where Mr. Ian Woon was being held. A man, presumably the questioner, glanced up at them as they approached and said, "I still haven't obtained any useful information from him." 

"Oh, that's quite alright," the admiral said. "I have brought two more psykers to assist in your interrogation." 

"I don't think that will be necessary, sir," the questioner said. "I'll get through, eventually. It just takes time and concentration." 

Talia casually brushed up against the interrogator's shields with her mind, testing his strength. He was a moderately strong psyker, generally sufficient for most purposes, but not nearly strong enough to keep her out. She smoothly punched through his shields to find the panic underneath. 

"What are you doing?" the man demanded. "It's illegal to scan another psyker! You can't do that!" 

"How long, exactly, did you think you'd be able to pull off this ruse before somebody figured it out?" Talia asked. One glance over the fear in his mind was enough to determine just what it was he was hiding. 

"I'm innocent! I swear! I didn't do anything!" the psyker cried. 

"It's fortunate we're in the dungeon already," the admiral said, "as it won't be difficult to put you into a cell of your own." He grabbed the psyker's arm and introduced him to a cell near that of Mr. Ian Woon. "And I would suggest not being so bloody obvious about things. Even complete non-psykers were starting to suspect something was up when you couldn't get us any information." 

"This is all a mistake! I'm innocent! Please let me out," the psyker whined feebly. 

Anderos said, "You work on that one, Talia. I'll probe the prisoner." 

Talia nodded and proceeded to do a more complete memory probe of the former interrogator to try to delve up some information that might be useful to them. Had he really thought he could get away with this crap? It appeared that he had. What a sad, deluded little man. But what she was most curious about was this business with the Primos. It was always easier to bring up specific memories with speaking, but sometimes well-trained psykers could hinder that with some effort. 

"Why would the Primos want to colonized Balzac?" Talia asked. 

"I don't know," murmured her subject. His mind confirmed that statement, with some sadness. He at least seemed to realize the fruitlessness of it. But he seemed to think that Primo was the best religion, and that it was the only truly good one, as it was a worship of life. He didn't seem to understand that there could be no life without death. 

Talia sighed softly to herself and continued her interrogation.


	71. The Morality of Rambling Incoherently About Doing Perverted Things With Cucumbers.

Jake looked up at the towers of the Imperial Palace from the landing platform. "So here we are. Toronto. Isn't it wonderful?" 

"This is incredible," Liam said. "We _must_ include this in our novel." 

"Naturally," Jake said. "Where else would a happy prince make his home? But we must remove the Primos. They're no fun at all." 

"Yeah. No more Primos," Liam said. "But hey, it's our novel, we can make it whatever sort of nifty alternative universe we want, after all, right?" 

"Definitely," Jake said. "It'll be a veritable utopia where the planets aren't overcrowded and people are respected for who and what they are without prejudice. And I don't care if that's unrealistic, either. I don't much feel like writing about things as they are. That's boring." 

"But what sort of conflict would there be? There always needs to be conflict or there isn't really much of a story, after all," Liam said. "Besides the space dragon that is." 

"Aliens!" Jake said. "They get invaded by weird bug-like aliens that want to eat them for some inexplicable reason! That'll be exciting. And nobody has to feel bad about killing bugs after all, right? They're just icky, dumb bugs." 

"What about romantic conflict between the main characters?" Liam said. "A love triangle! Yeah." 

"Haven't we already had enough of that in real life?" Jake said. 

"It always makes for a good subplot, though," Liam said. "And then one of them can die tragically, making the prince go all angsty for revenge and then kill a bunch of things before getting together with the other one again." 

"What are you two talking about?" said Derek as he approached them with Neil. 

"Oh, we're just discussing a novel we're writing," Jake said. "It's going to be great! A best seller in the fringe worlds." 

"Really," Derek said. "Well, I'm sure it'll be great. But how about we stop standing around on the landing platform and go inside to get something to eat or something, maybe?" 

Jake considered that for a moment. "Hey, that doesn't sound like a half bad idea. Let's go!" He skipped girlishly into the palace. 

They headed inside and found some leftovers from the feast still available, and thus munched on ham, cheese, and turkey sandwiches. After they ate, Derek said to Neil, "How about we go see how various relatives are doing, shall we? They probably think we're dead by now or something." 

"As long as we don't have to eat Aunt Marge's fruitcake," Neil said. 

"Definitely not. Yuck," Derek said. He turned to Jake and Liam and said, "You two have fun here, you hear?" 

"Sure thing," Jake said. "We'll try not to get into too much trouble." 

Derek and Neil headed out from the palace, leaving them munching on another sandwich, this one with tomato and pickles in addition to the ham and cheese. Jake pulled out one of the pickles and peered at it for a moment before munching on it. "There are pickles." 

"Yes," Liam said. "That's a pickle. What about it?" 

"Where there are pickles, it means there are cucumbers. Or were cucumbers at some point in time." 

"Generally, yes," Liam said. "What's your point?" 

"Well, cucumbers have an interesting shape," Jake said. "Wouldn't it be kind of fun?" 

Liam rolled his eyes. "Jake! We're on a Primo planet, remember?" 

"Whatever," Jake said. "It was just a thought." 

"Besides," Liam said. "Cucumbers are awfully large, aren't they?" 

"We could find a small cucumber, maybe," Jake said. "I'm sure they come in different sizes, don't they?" 

"How about carrots instead?" Liam suggested. "Carrots are good. Or maybe just something that isn't edible." 

"Bah, what fun is that?" Jake said. "We must use the instruments the Father has given us!" 

"I don't think the Father really intended vegetables for that purpose, though," Liam said. 

"Yeah, probably not," Jake said. "Whatever. How about we just use the _other_ instruments the Father has given us? He didn't intend those for that purpose either, after all, but when did that ever stop us?" 

"Heh," Liam said. "Silly Primos. There aren't any Primos on Balzac, after all. We won't allow it there. They'd just end up outbreeding us and overrunning the planet within a few generations if we did, after all." 

"It must be a good deal saner, if anything," Jake said. "So what exactly do you believe in, then?" 

Liam shrugged. "It all depends upon the person. Religion should be more of a personal thing and not a government-regulated institute everyone adheres to, shouldn't it? Why should the church or state tell me what to believe in?" 

"Yeah, particularly when they relegate millions of people to second-class citizens or exiles," Jake said. "Much as I like Gaytopia, we shouldn't _have_ to go there. I suppose I was always a real rebel at heart, though." 

"It really says something when there's enough guys coming off Primo planets to give Gaytopia a steady population without any internal form of reproduction," Liam said. "And kind of disproves their theories that it's completely genetic, doesn't it? Because if it were, you'd think the genes would die out eventually since they don't exactly promote the idea of reproduction." 

"Yeah," Jake said. "I've heard of Primo Cybions who tried to get geneticists to change their kid's genes because they thought the genes would promote homosexuality. And then there's others who say it's completely a choice and therefore anyone who is attracted to the same sex must be willfully breaking the laws of the church and state." 

"For some, perhaps," Liam said. "But I'm just not attracted to women in that way. No matter what religious or imperial law would state would change that. Sure, I might still be a good Primo and marry and have eight kids, but _why_? I'm not even a Primo and hardly think the Empire needs more people in it right now." 

"And if it's a choice," Jake said, "then so be it. I'll be exactly who I am, and I'm not going to change myself for the sake of what people tell me I should do or be." 

"Yeah," Liam said. "Preach it, brother."


	72. People in the Twenty-Sixth Century Find Twentieth Century Science Fiction Very Amusing.

"So, you see, they kept putting out more and more _Star Trek_ television serieses and books and films, and they kept getting less and less consistant and kept contradicting one another more and more," Mike said. "By the early twenty-second century, they were easily the longest-running franchise in the industry, and were almost completely incoherent by that point." 

"So they've got these transporters," Kalli said. "And they can just magically move people from one place to another. So why don't they just beam the enemy crew into space or something?" 

"They couldn't do that with their shields up, of course," Mike said. "But then if their shields were down they wouldn't have to, either. But if they wanted to keep the ship for whatever reason, sending over a boarding party is kind of silly unless they just wanted the challenge of it or soemthing. Which I wouldn't put past those Klingons to be honorable and like challenges, but you'd expect the Ferengi to do something dirty like that." 

"What about those Romulans? What's up with them?" Kalli wondered. "And why are most of the aliens just humans with pointy ears, funny foreheads, or odd noses?" 

"Costume budget, I think," Mike said. "They had to get real humans playing the roles, so they're just humans in fancy makeup." 

"For that matter," Kalli said, "why do all the aliens speak English?" 

"The universal translator," Mike said. "No, what I don't get is why all the aliens except the Klingons speak English, and the Klingons speak in subtitles. All fine and good that they went and made a Klingon language, but why are they the only aliens that speak in subtitles? Oh, and Vulcans once in a great while, too. Hell, _I_ could create a nifty language like that myself, if I wanted to." 

"So why don't you?" Kalli said with a coy grin. 

Mike paused for a moment to consider that. "I just might. Gotta have something to do while waiting for that ship to get done. Not to mention while waiting for it to fly from one system to another, as I imagine there's plenty of boring systems out there as well as interesting ones. I suppose I'll be making a trip back to Hamilton sometime. Think we can convince the Empress to pull out of there?" 

"I sure hope so," Kalli said. "I don't even know why the Empire would want that system in the first place. It's not like there aren't too many Primos in the galaxy as it is." 

"Nobody ever claimed that everything everyone always did was reasonable or logical," Mike said. "I know I could be accused of being illogical at times, after all. Some might even say I'm downright crazy." He grinned impishly. 

"Nah, you're not crazy," Kalli said. "A little _eccentric_ perhaps, but not crazy." She glanced over at the holovid screen. "Now that Khan fellow, he's crazy." 

"I don't know," Mike said. "I always thought it was debatable whether Khan or Kirk aws the crazier. I mean, Kirk does get awfully overreactive at times. All that screaming and stuff. You'd think he had insects in his pants or something." 

"Maybe we should talk to the Empress." 

"Yeah, okay, let's do that," Mike said. They headed out of their chambers and into the hallway. Roger was standing guard outside. "Hey. We want to see the Empress if she's not busy." 

Roger checked briefly with his hand comm. "Sure. She's in the palace gardens. Right this way." 

The gardens, like the grassy courtyard, were actually built on top of another part of the palace and had a wall around them. Different sorts of flowers carpeted the ground and hung from trees and bushes along the path, which was laid out from slightly bluish irregular stones. Past a curve in the path hidden by the foliage, there was a shallow pond with lilypads. Empress Alisa was seated on a bench near the water. 

"Ah, hello," Alisa said. "Please, be seated, if you will." 

Mike and Kalli sat down on another stone bench near Alisa. "Nice place," Kalli said. 

"It is most relaxing, if somewhat confined," Alisa said. "Someday I surely must witness all that the other worlds have to offer. Did you wish to speak with me about some matter?" 

Mike cleared his throat. "Well, yes. Didn't mean to interrupt your relaxation, though." 

"Oh, do not worry yourself about it," Alisa said. "Do speak." 

"It's about the Hamilton system," Mike said. "How the Karzan Military has been fighting there for decades and accomplishing pretty much nothing." 

"The people of Hamilton refuse to have anything to do with the Empire," Alisa murmured. 

"They don't want the Primos coming and taking over their planet like they've done to Toronto and Terra," Mike said. "Before the advent of the jump gates, they were a proud and independent colony. They don't want to lose that heritage, or their system." 

"If they were willing to talk, something might have been worked out," Alisa said. "There are many worlds which the Primos do not occupy, after all. But we feared that they would become terrorists and attempt to destroy the Empire." 

"Right now, I think all they really want is peace," Mike said. "They want to be left alone." 

"And how are you such an expert on what fringe world colonies desire?" Alisa asked skeptically. 

"I was born on Hamilton," Mike said quietly. "I wouldn't presume to say I know what everyone thinks and feels, but I believe I have a fair idea on the general thoughts of the place." 

"I see," Alisa said. "Then they would speak with you?" 

Mike nodded slightly. "I can't imagine just how much _they_ would be willing to give, though." 

"Very well," Alisa said. "While you are waiting for the new ship to be completed, you should go speak to the people of Hamilton. I would prefer that they join the Empire, of course, but at this point it seems nothing will accomplish that short of sending in battleships or Death Dancers and simply destroying everything." Alisa pulled out a data pad and entered some information before handing it over to Kalli as she was closer. "After the negotiations are complete, transmit that data to the commander of the Military forces in the area." 

Kalli glanced over the data pad. It was an order to withdraw all Military forces from the system as soon as possible and to cease fire on the Hamilton guerillas, signed from the Empress. "We will leave at once, Your Highness," Kalli said, rising to her feet. 

"Good luck to you," Empress Alisa said. "I shall inform Admiral Fischer of current events in your absense." 

Mike stood up and bowed deeply to the Empress. "Thank you, Your Highness. This means a lot to me."


	73. Rooting Out the Bad Guys.

Talia and Anderos reported their findings to Admiral Fischer after several hours of probing and questioning. Between them they had found implications of a number of others who may still be loyal to the former Chancellor that could cause trouble, who were subsequently placed under arrest for further questioning themselves. After sifting through those along an expanding web, they believed they had just about everyone of any importance in custody. 

"A vast conspiracy determined to bring totalitarian rule to the Chancellor," Talia said. "Who would have thought?" 

"It's a frightening prospect, really," Anderos said. "It would have spelled the total collapse of the Karzan Empire and the eventual deterioration of interstellar civilization, as soon as the Primos could no longer meet their food requirements. It would have resulted in the deaths of billions of people, with the remainder surviving off what space rations could be manufactured from biodomes and hydroponic bays." 

"I've been thinking about that, Anderos," Talia said. "The Primos claim to worship life. But they seem to have confused quantity of life with quality. They overpopulate their planets to the point of straining the resources keeping them alive, and to what purpose? It's not really making them any happier. And to what purpose?" 

"I wish I had had a chance to probe into the Chancellor's mind to find out what he was planning," Anderos muttered. "He wasn't exactly open about his plans with many people." 

"Where did Kalli and Mike run off to, anyway? Weren't they supposed to be here?" Talia wondered. "Hey, guard guy! Where's Kalli?" 

"She left a few hours ago for Hamilton," the guard replied. "She should be back in a few days, so she said." 

"Hamilton?" Talia said. "Going to go take those poor snakes home, or what?" 

"Negotiations with the guerillas, or so I heard," the guard said. "A futile effort if you ask me, but I suppose they'd be crazy to shoot at her, after all." 

"Well, I suppose we're left to interrogation or something until she comes back," Talia muttered. "Let's go get some lunch, Anderos." 

They headed off to munch on some sandwiches and a bowl of hot vegetable soup before resuming the interrogation. It appeared that a number of the people involved had been under the Chancellor's telepathic control, and they attempted to work to undo the damage. Some of them had, however, been completely willing and they couldn't do much about those except lock them up. 

Admiral Fischer came down to check on their project. "Report?" 

"We have managed to deprogram a number of the normals that were working for the former Chancellor," Anderos said. "The psykers are proving more difficult, however, for a number of reasons. It appears that many, many more psykers were willing to work with him than were forced to, and it's difficult to change a psyker's mind when it's set on something." 

"It is a most distressing situation," Fischer said. "The ones more willful of the treason they were committing must be executed, of course, but those who were merely under mind-control should not receive such a stringent punishment, naturally." 

Although capital punishment had never been used on most Primo worlds, in favor of exile and banishment due to their love of life in any form, it remained on planet Toronto and for Imperial law only for high treason. And conspiring to kill the Empress and take over the Empire could definitely be classified as treason. There wasn't much else that could be done with those who had willfully conspired to kill the Empress and would gladly do so again given the opportunity but execute them. 

Talia headed up into her and Anderos's chambers and thought about reforming the Primo religion. It was an impossible task, and yet a necessary one, to convince them that quality of life was more important than mere quantity. Common sense would have dictated that they stop their out-of-control breeding centuries ago, and yet here was the result of it, overcrowded planets and depleted resources. The junkers certainly got a good job of it collecting scrap metal from destroyed ships to recycle, since there simply wasn't much metal left to mine in the core of the Karzan Empire. 

"I don't see how you could stop people from having as many children as they want to," Anderos said. "Wouldn't that be imposing on individual rights?" 

"What about an individual's right to live on whatever planet they want to?" Talia said. "Nobody seems to take much care into removing those restrictions. It's the only reason planets like Darwin, Balzac, and Tahiti are still nice places to be. Because the Primos haven't gotten a foothold there to overrun the place. Terra, Toronto, Primus, and Secundus were all also lovely worlds before the Primos took over. And now look. There's nothing left of Terra but sprawling cities that couldn't survive without the food grown in the Martian farms. And the only reason they just grew food on Mars instead of colonizing it was because the gravity was uncomfortably light, and they didn't feel like taking the expense to install artificial gravity generators, and they could make better use of that by growing tall plants for food." 

"There is much change that yet needs to happen," Anderos said. "What with the diseases that would normally keep population growth in check having been eliminated. A planet like Primus would be devastated if a disease which they had no immunity to came along, whereas for population spread out thinner across more worlds it might not spread beyond a few towns." 

"I still can't figure out why the _Chancellor_ would think that it's such a great idea to pump out the people like that," Talia said. "It just doesn't make any sense." 

"Some questions we may never find the real answers for," Anderos said. "But you can bet that we didn't really get them all. We might have found his more staunch supporters, but somebody, somewhere, was probably smart enough to stay under cover and quiet. You can bet on it."


	74. A New Hope for Peace, Prosperity, and Being Left the Hell Alone.

Kalli had collected the Hamilton wood snakes before leaving Toronto and had placed them in a sizeable aquarium to the side of the cockpit. They should be happy to be going home again. Kalli and Mike headed off in the Nova toward the jump gate to the Manitoba system. 

"This is great," Mike said. "I had never dared to imagine that things might work out like this. I'd hoped for years that the Military would eventually realize the effort was futile and pull out, but they were always too proud to admit defeat and kept fighting. The only way in which they were winning was the war of numbers, since the people of Hamilton have been slowly dwindling. But they never found our true bases, hidden deep underground, where our children have been born and raised. It will be wonderful for the children to be able to see the light of day again." 

"They've been living underground all this time?" Kalli said. 

Mike nodded ruefully. "There wasn't much other choice when the Military came in. It's fortunate for us that they didn't want to do too much damage to the environment or we wouldn't even have the forests to hide in. At least they had the common sense to realize that if you destroy the thing you're trying to take over, there isn't much point in fighting over it." 

After several hours' journey, they arrived in the New Scotland system and approached the battleship guarding the jump gate into the Hamilton system. "Nova-class fighter," came a message over the comm. "Identify yourself immediately and state your purpose." 

"This is Kalli May of the Dancers on the Edge of Death," Kalli replied. "I am travelling to Hamilton under orders of the Empress in order to initiate negotiations with the Hamilton guerillas." 

There was a long pause before the voice said, "You may proceed into the Hamilton system. It is doubtful that the guerillas will speak with you, however, but you are welcome to try." 

"Thank you," Kalli said. She proceeded to enter the jump gate and head into the Hamilton system. After crossing through, she repeated her statement of purpose to the Military units stationed on the other side, and proceeded to head toward the planet. 

The guerillas made no contact with them as they went in for a landing in the jungles near the equator of the planet. Once on the surface, Kalli pulled on her gloves and collected the snakes into a bag again and headed outside. She walked several meters from the ship and opened the bag, releasing the snakes into the forest again. "There you go, friends. Home again at last. Thanks for the help." 

"Talking to snakes, hon?" Mike said, chuckling. "Let's find the guerillas now, shall we? I'll take us to one of the cave entrances into the underground. Few outsiders have been allowed to see it or even know about them." 

They returned to the ship and Mike took the controls, flying them off toward a mountain range in the northern hemisphere. The ship's sensors picked up a number of caverns and tunnel openings in the mountains, but it could not penetrate the thick rock enough to pick out which of the labyrinthine tunnels actually led down into the underground caverns which the guerillas called their home. 

"I don't think the Nova is going to fit in those tunnels," Mike said. "They can get the Griffons down there without any trouble, but the Nova is much too big. We'll have to park it and walk down." He landed the Nova inside a cavern large enough to hold it and climbed out of the ship along with Kalli, grabbing a hand-light to light their way. 

"There should be a station or outpost or something down this tunnel," Mike said, scrambling over the uneven ground. "There used to be great cities and towns, but the Empire took them over and drove the people out. and when we finally regained control of them, they destroyed them." 

After trekking downhill through the tunnels for nearly half an hour, they came to the outpost Mike had mentioned. Mike whistled as they approached to get their attention so that they didn't seem like they were trying to sneak up on the outpost. 

"Mike!" called a voice as they came close to the outpost. As a light fell on his face, Kalli vaguely recognized him. "What are you doing here? Why did you bring _her_ here?" 

"Nice to see you, too, Ron," Mike said wryly. "We need to talk. Call together whoever is in charge around here." 

"Alright, fine," Ron said, running off into the outpost again. After a few minutse, Ron returned and said, "Come this way." He led them off to a small building, or cave as the case may be, with a table and chairs and a light hanging overhead. There was a middle-aged man with a thick beard and very bushy eyebrows seated at the table. 

"Michael Pratt?" the man said. "And who is this?" He looked to Kalli. 

"I am Kalli May of the Dancers on the Edge of Death," she said. 

"She's my partner," Mike said, taking a seat across from the man. "I didn't expect to see you here manning this outpost, Chuck." 

" _Charles_. Or Mr. Jennings," the man insisted. "What are you doing here? You know outsiders should be met in the jungle, not down here." 

"It's time to put an end to all that," Mike said. "And reclaim the surface again." 

"What do you think we've been trying to do for the last thirty years?" Charles said indignantly. "We're about to remove the Military from the planet entirely soon." 

"You've already won," Mike said. "Kalli, show him." 

Kalli pulled out the data pad from her jacket and passed it over to Charles. He took it and glanced over it, his eyes going wide. "This is authentic?" He also took a moment to glance at Kalli's ring, which he didn't seem to have noticed before. 

Mike nodded. "Kalli here will transmit it once we're done _negotiating_ here. And I'll assure you, telling her that she's not welcome here won't overly convince her to send it much." 

"You've sold us out to the Empire!" Charles cried. "You filthy traitor, get out of here!" 

"Shut up and listen, Chuck," Mike said, not budging. "The Empress isn't going to send in troops and isn't going to send Primos to breed all over the planet. She would _prefer_ if you guys decided to join the Empire as an autonomous colony, but is willing to pull out _regardless_ of what comes of this. There's something else I've come to give you." He pulled another data pad out of his pocket and handed it to Charles. 

After peering over that one for a long moment, he said, "This is incredible, where did you get this? We could easily destroy the Military forces and hold the gate with a ship like this!" 

"They're going to have them, too," Mike said. "But I figured you'd get a bit irritated at me if the Karzan Military got this technology and you didn't. I doubt there's sufficient luminite past this part of the fringe to build many of them, but there you have it anyway." 

"We discovered a vein of it on one of the planets in the Nunavut system," Charles said. "Not nearly so much as the Rath system, but it should be plenty to make ten or twenty of these Novas if we can safely extract it." 

"Now that you've won the war," Mike said, "what concession, if any, are you willing the give the Empire?" 

"I'll need to speak with the colony leaders before we can reach a decision," Charles said. "Do please send off that order now, though." 

"Very well. We'll need to get back to the surface to transmit it, but it shall be done," Mike said. "Shall we go, Kalli?" 

"Let's," Kalli said. They stood and began to climb back through the tunnels to where they left their ship.


	75. Give Peace a Chance.

Kalli climbed back into the Nova and transmitted the Empress's message to the Military forces stationed near the gate and on planet Hamilton. There was a long pause as she waited for a response, any response. Then, finally, an answer came in. 

The answer was "No." 

"Mike, get in here," she said, powering up the engines. "We're going to need to be diplomatic here." 

Mike slid into the co-pilot's seat. "What's up? They're not leaving?" 

"They're going to leave if I have to blow them all up myself," Kalli said firmly. 

"This isn't going to go over well with the Empress," Mike said as Kalli eased the Nova out of the cave. 

"They're disobeying a direct order here," Kalli said. She turned the Nova over toward the Military base on the far side of the planet. "Military base, this is Kalli May of the Dancers on the Edge of Death. You _will_ comply with the Empress's orders." 

"We've been fighting this war for decades," came the reply. "We've lost too many men here to just give up like this! We can still win." 

"Nobody's winning this war," Kalli said. "Stop this nonsense before you just throw more lives away. I came here post-haste straight from the Empress herself to deliver these orders. And if you insist on insubordination, I will be forced to open fire on you, as I cannot allow this." 

She brought the Nova to hover in the air above the Military base, weapons powered up, waiting for an answer. After a couple minutes, the man replied ruefully, "Give us a few hours to pack up our supplies and equipment." 

"Thank you," Kalli said. She powered down the Nova's weapons again. "Do you require any assistance with that?" 

"No, no, we're fine," he said. "You did tell the guerillas not to attack us too on the way out, right?" 

"Yes, of course," Kalli said. "We have established negotiations with them and will hopefully reach a compromise shortly." 

A response returned to her from the units at the gate, delayed because of distance. They were happy to vacate the vicinity and were proceeding to head back to New Scotland at once. Kalli turned to head back toward the caves again. 

"Nothing is ever easy, is it?" Kalli muttered. "I'm just glad they weren't _more_ of stubborn idiots." 

"It's hard to believe," Mike said. "Peace after all these years." 

"And if they _don't_ leave, I _will_ blow them up," Kalli said. 

"I'll help," Mike offered lightly. The Nova landed back in the cave again and the two of them climbed out. Back down into the tunnels they want. 

They arrived back in the room they had met Charles in before. "I've got reports coming in saying that the Military is packing their bags and leaving," Charles said. "This is wonderful! I almost thought you were lying there for a minute." 

"Would I lie to you?" Mike said with a smirk. 

"I'm not even going to answer that," Charles said. "I sent a messenger ahead, do you want to head down into the caves now or head back to Toronto?" 

"I'd like to head down, myself," Mike said. "I'm not really urgently needed in Toronto for a few weeks yet." He paused. "But only if Kalli comes with me." 

Charles looked warily at her. "Very well. I'm sure I don't need to send somebody along to protect Death Dancers, but I'll send somebody to show you the way. Anita!" A young girl of maybe seven or eight appeared. "Show these two down to the living caves, will you?" 

Anita nodded brightly and headed out into the tunnels, Kalli and Mike barely able to keep up with her as she clambered like a monkey over the rocks. After travelling down for about an hour, they came to a well-lit cavern, and Anita ran over to a man who bore a close resemblance to Mike. The man hugged her and then glanced up at who she had brought in. 

"Brian!" Mike said. "Great to see you again!" 

"Mike!" Brian said. "Are you really back after all these years?" He glanced at Kalli. "Who is she?" 

"Brian, this is Kalli May, my girlfriend," Mike said, putting his arm around Kalli's waist. "Kalli, I'd like you to meet Brian, my baby brother. Is the little squirt yours?" 

Brian nodded. "She just turned seven last month." 

"Well I'll be a monkey's uncle," Mike said, chuckling. 

Brian glanced at Kalli and said lightly, "So how'd you get together with this son of a bitch?" 

"It was entirely by accident, I assure you," Kalli said with a coy grin. 

"Have you heard the news?" Mike said. 

"What news?" Brian asked. 

"The Military's going away!" Mike said, loudly enough that a number of people nearby heard and started murmuring amongst themselves and coming in closer. "They're packing their bags and moving out! There will be peace again and you all will be able to return to the surface!" 

"What's it like up there?" Anita asked. Kalli's heart wrenched that this girl of seven years had spent her entire life, and had never seen the leaves of trees or felt sunlight and wind upon her face. 

"You'll see soon enough, honey," Mike said. "I couldn't begin to describe it for you." 

"How soon?" Anita asked. 

"Well, we could head up after I talk to whoever is in charge here if your daddy approves," Mike said. "I'll even show you my spaceship and fly around the planet a bit if you want." 

"Are you sure it's safe?" Brian said. 

"Surely," Mike said. "Besides, the Nova-class fighter could destroy a whole fleet of Barracudas without breaking a sweat. That is, if spaceships could sweat at least." 

"Nova-class? I've never heard of that," Brian said. "I'd like to see this too." 

Mike spoke briefly with some older men and women who made up the colony's council, and they said that they would have a democratic vote of every member of the colony over the age of thirteen on whether they would join the Empire or not. This was, naturally, likely to take a few days. So in the meantime, Mike and Brian put in their votes and headed up toward the cave where the Nova had been parked. 

"Nice ship," Brian said when they got back up to the cavern almost two hours later. 

"You should see how it flies," Mike said. "It's a dream!" 

The four of them climbed into the ship, and Kalli put in the password and powered up the engines. "Don't worry too much about safety," Kalli said, "I haven't seen anything short of a battleship actually manage to destroy a Nova." 

"And seeing as we've destroyed two battleships and only lost one Nova, I'd say we're up on them," Mike said. 

"You've destroyed _battleships_?" Brian said. "Wow." 

Kalli flew the ship out of the cave and sailed low through the mountains and down into the forest. Little Anita stared at the screen wide-eyed. The sun was bright and the skies were clear in this part of the planet. 

"Mind if I have a hand at the controls?" Brian asked. 

"Be my guest," Mike said, getting up from the co-pilot seat and standing behind it. 

Brian took the controls and tested by flying around in loops and circles a bit. "It's so maneuverable for something of its size! This is amazing." 

"And you might have one of your own soon, too," Mike said. "I gave the specs for it to Chuck up at the outpost." 

"Sweet," Brian said, doing another loop in the air. 

"I'm also glad that this ship has artificial gravity and inertial dampeners," Mike said. "Otherwise I might complain that you're making me sick doing that." 

"Sorry," Brian said. 

Anita was standing up right next to Kalli. Kalli said, "Come up here and sit on Auntie Kalli's lap." She pulled the kid onto her lap and looked up out the window. "Look, we're coming up on an ocean, and the sun is setting here behind us." 

Anita tried to peer back through the rear windows. "It's bright," she said. 

"Yes, it is," Kalli said. "Don't look at it too long. Here, look ahead, watch this." 

Up ahead, they were crossing over into night, and the stars and moons of Hamilton grew visible overhead. "Ooooh," Anita said, staring up at the sky. "There's lights up there!" 

"Aren't they pretty?" Kalli said. "Look at the moon!" She pointed up toward a silvery half-moon hanging low in the sky over the shadowy waters. 

"Where's the rest of it?" Anita asked. 

"You want to see?" Kalli asked. Anita nodded. "Let's go see!" With one hand still holding Anita, she reached out with her left hand and hit the controls, accelerating the ship away from the planet and toward the moon. 

"Where are we going?" Anita asked. 

"To the moon!" Kalli said, laughing aloud.


	76. Eventually Heading Back to Toronto Again.

Kalli and Mike returned to the surface to sleep after a long day, ending up just landing and sleeping in the ship as they were too tired to make the long trip back down into the caves again. After a long sleep, they eventually woke up as rays of sunlight fell into the cave and pierced the Nova's windows from the west. 

"Good morning," Mike said as Kalli opened her eyes. He was already up. 

"Morning?" Kalli muttered. "This cave faces west." 

"Okay, good evening then," Mike said. "I generally call it morning whenever I get up, no matter what planetary time that is. Saves confusion." 

They climbed out of the ship and headed down to the outpost again and looked for news on the voting. "It'll still be a few days or more," Charles told them. "You kids can head along back to wherever if you want to and we'll relay it through New Scotland, if you don't want to stick around." 

"Bah, I've nothing better to do at the moment," Mike said. "But I suppose we'd better report back. And then we might see what Talia and Jake have been up to. But we'll be back. And I hope to see you guys on the surface again by that point, too," he added with a grin. 

"Have a safe journey," Charles said. "And thank you for all you've done for us. I don't think I was particularly grateful about it yesterday." 

"Heh. Don't worry about it, Chuck," Mike said. He turned and headed back out of the caves and back to the ship again, Kalli trailing along behind him. "You ready to head back, Kalli?" 

"Yeah," she said. "I think I'm feeling space sick from all this time spent on planets lately. I can't wait till we're out exploring. That will be great." 

They returned to the ship and headed off away from planet Hamilton and back toward the jump gate to New Scotland. The battleship asked, "How did the negotiations go?" 

"They're currently voting on the situation and will notify you back here of the results of the vote," Mike replied. "We're heading back to Toronto now." 

Kalli pointed the Nova off toward the jump gate to the Manitoba system and they were off. Several hours later, they made landing back on planet Toronto at the Imperial Palace. As they went in to report how the negotiations had gone, they practically ran into Talia and Anderos. 

"There you are!" Talia said. "I was wondering when you'd get back." 

"Didn't realize you were on Toronto," Mike said. "What's up?" 

"A direction away from the center of gravity of a celestial object," Talia said. 

Mike smirked. "So, we've got peace in Hamilton now. We can talk over lunch after we put in our report." 

After putting in their report briefly, they went to have some sandwiches. Kalli got a sandwich with turkey, chicken, ham, cheese, tomato, lettuce, pickles, olives, and mayonnaise on a large bun. Talia said, "Kalli, your mother wanted me to remind you to come home and tell her all about everything." 

Kalli giggled. "I suppose we've got time to make another run over there before we head off into the middle of nowhere." 

"Middle of nowhere?" Talia asked. 

"Yeah, we're going off in some ship to explore beyond the fringe, and stuff," Kalli said. "Once they finish building the ship that is." 

"I'm not sure just what sort of crew complement it's going to be able to support," Mike said. "It'll need to stay small enough to travel through jump holes, but by necessity for a long journey we need at _least_ one engineer, scientist, and medic. Although all things considered, a trained psyker may be useful too if we ever actually encounter life out there. That's up for debate at the moment." 

"Just because we've been in space for five hundred years and haven't encountered extraterrestrials yet doesn't mean there aren't any," Kalli said. "There's still a whole lot of space left unexplored." 

"Sounds fun," Talia said. "When are you leaving?" 

"They gave a few weeks for the ship to be built," Mike said. "So I still want to check in at Siberia again in the meantime, and Hamilton. At least it's faster now that we can safely use the jump gates again." 

"We still have some business to take care of on Toronto," Talia said. "But we'll travel with you to Balzac if you don't mind. Your mother is really nice, Kalli." 

Kalli laughed aloud. "You say that now, try living with her for a few years." 

"Shall we head out for Balzac in the morning, then?" Mike asked. 

"Sure," Kalli said. "We'd better or my mother will bitch at me even more when I visit her next." 

They headed off to bed for a relaxing sleep and some other relaxation. After a good sleep on a comfortable fluffy bed, Kalli woke and went to get some breakfast of delicious worfberry pancakes with whipped cream on them, crisp tasty bacon, a glass of cold orange juice, and some scrambled eggs with salsa. Mike joined her and grabbed a couple slices of hot toast with butter and thick worfberry jam, a glass of milk, and some little sausages. Kalli made as much a point to steal some of Mike's sausages as he did to grab some of her slices of bacon. 

Their stomachs full, they went to the Nova and boarded it, joined shortly by Talia and Anderos taking seats in the back. Thus they headed off away from planet Toronto and set a course for the jump gate to the Manitoba system again. It was so much less frustrating, if a little boring, that the Karzan Military ships paid little to no attention to them now. There was peace in the galaxy, for the moment.


	77. The Reason.

And so, they arrived at planet Balzac after a trip through several jump gates. It wasn't until after they'd gotten there that they realized they'd forgotten to locate Jake, and figured he could take care of himself and was probably off somewhere doing perverted things with cucumbers anyway. 

"Ah, let's buy them lunch!" Mike said. "Or whatever time of day it is right now." 

Talia went off to the May house to drag Kalli's parents off to a nice cafe near the spaceport where Mike bought them sandwiches and soup. "Oh, this is lovely," Barb said, laughing. "Please, please, tell me everything." 

So they proceeded to retell the events which had taken place over the last few weeks, how the Chancellor was killed, how Kalli came to serve teh Empress, how peace came to Hamilton, and their plans for exploration in the near future. Barb and Leonard listened with interest as they ate their lunches. 

"Oh, I bet that will be exciting," Barb said. "Seeing things no human has ever seen before." 

"What still puzzles me is why the Chancellor wanted to destroy Balzac to plant a colony of Primos here," Talia said. "It just makes no sense." 

"I'm quite glad you were here to stop them," Barb said to Mike. "I don't know what we would have done without you. Oh, by the way, Talia dear, you said you were a psyker, correct?" 

"That's right," Talia said. 

"Are you sure?" Barb asked. 

"Yes," Talia said impatiently. "Absolutely, positive, beyond a shadow of a doubt sure. Why?" 

"Well, when I scanned over your DNA sample, I couldn't find anything that really pointed to that conclusively," Barb said. "Perhaps I was just missing something." 

"Psionic powers aren't really genetic," Talia said. "Everyone who isn't born psi-blind has potential for it. In most people, the ability fades long before puberty without special training, and often even then. Occasionally, a child is born with a certain talent toward a particular type of psionics, such as empathy or telekinesis. But only about one in a million children retains their psychic powers to adulthood on their own." 

"So it's entirely random, then?" Barb asked. "Nothing to do with genetics?" 

"Some genes might encourage the development of psychic talents," Anderos said, "but would give no guarentee that the child will retain them past puberty. Adults _might_ be able to regain their natural psychic powers through intensive training, but most fail. The success rate of training children to retain them is considerably higher, but still not always successful." 

"So what you're saying is," Barb said, "that there's no way to artificially increase the number of psykers in the population?" 

"Not really," Talia said. "The only way to increase the number of psykers, really, is to... increase the population." She paused for a long moment. "You don't suppose that was what the former Chancellor was trying to do..." 

"Breed more psykers, and to hell with what happened to everyone else?" Mike said. "Somehow, I wouldn't put it past him." 

"It makes some sense," Anderos admitted, "in a diabolical sort of way. But why would he want more psykers? They don't even generally breed true." 

"Not always," Talia said. "Although statistically, the chances of a child with a psychic mother being also a psyker are higher than average." 

"Because of the connection the mother establishes with the unborn child," Anderos said. "Exposes a child to psionic powers early on, similar to attempting to train a child to retain their powers. Combined with the training it can make the chances much better, but still not extremely common." 

"But when you're breeding people like mad, that may give you thousands more psykers available," Talia said. "But why would somebody want to do all that? Trying to turn us into a race of psykers or something? It still makes no sense." 

"We can't finish the puzzle until we have all the pieces," Anderos said. "We're missing that key piece there: motive. Everything else is falling into place neatly, but even without the key piece we may get an idea of the bigger picture." 

"Billions upon billions of people, barely clinging to life," Kalli said. "With only the psykers all they really care about?" 

"It also explains why there were so many psykers willingly working for him," Talia said. "You'd think they'd have some idea about all this, though." 

"Perhaps it was merely better hidden," Anderos said. "It's tough enough to probe another psyker for useful information, after all. There are, however, ways to lock away information to prevent others from finding it very easily at all." 

"So is this all we have, then?" Talia said. "Conjecture and assumption? That isn't really much closure on the matter." 

"Do you propose something better, going back and probing those psykers until we come up with something?" Anderos said. 

Talia nodded. "Maybe with some prompting it'll come to the surface." 

"All this flying all over the galaxy is starting to get to me," Anderos muttered, draining his beverage. 

"I rather like it, myself," Kalli commented. "The Moosehead Nebula is rather pretty this time of year." 

"The Moosehead Nebula looks the same all the time," Leonard put in. "Like a... giant... moose head. Except... blue. You seen it once, you seen all there is to see." 

Kalli chuckled. "Ah, don't be so cynical, Dad." 

"But I do hope you enjoy yourself out there," Len said. 

Barb said, "Do just remember to be careful and dress warmly on those uninhabited frozen planets." 

"Yes, Mother, I will," Kalli said with a chuckle. She leaned over and gave Barb a hug. "We're heading off to check on Siberia next before returning to Toronto." 

"Safe journey to all of you," Barb said. "And do remember to stop in for a visit once in a while!" 

They bid Barb and Leonard goodbye again and headed off in the Nova toward Siberia once again, bringing with them a hold full of food rations. The jump holes to Siberia were still being stubbornly watched by the pirate Novas. The biodomes were complete enough to be able to produce some food for the colony, but it wasn't yet enough to fully meet their needs. But all in all, they were working to turn this inhospitable place into a home. 

It was remarkable the extremes of locales that humans could live in, and the tenacity of the ones who chose to do so. The pirates were willing to live in a frozen wasteland for the sake of their freedom, to be completely free from imperial rule. Kalli wondered, was it really right to be this way? But then, anyone who didn't want to live here had already left to return to warmer climates once the blockades were down. That hadn't been particularly many people, though. These were the people who had lived on Dracula Base, and knew how to scratch out a living from nothing. This was no Dracula yet, but it could become something much better given time and hard work. 

There was hope amidst the ruins of death. Strength would see them through, as it always had.


	78. I Think Somebody Forgot About These Two.

Amy looked over the frozen grave of the man who had died on the way from planet Harris. The other had made a full recovery, but this one hadn't made it. She couldn't help but feel somewhat responsible for his death, and the deaths of all the others that had met their end at Harris when the luminite cannon had exploded. She sighed to herself, resolving that there wasn't any use in dwelling on it now. Perhaps some good could still come from that ill-fated operation. 

She pulled a device from her pocket, one of the few that she had salvaged from the destruction of Donovan Blake's base. It glowed faintly, humming and whirring, but she wasn't entirely sure what it did yet. So many of Penner's inventions had seemed all but useless at first glance. Maybe this device was really part of a larger contraption and didn't actually do anything in and of itself. She still had some notes on what some of his devices had done and how they worked, but they were for the most part impractical or unreproduceable. 

After holding it to the sun, however, she discovered that it was glowing more brightly. The glowing was due to a small shard of luminite contained within the device. Interesting, she thought. That must be its power source. She was wary of this one blowing up like the cannon had, but since it used far less luminite she deemed it unlikely an that it would cause considerably less damage even if it did. 

She sighed and put it back into her pocket. Todd came up and put his arm around her. "Everything's going to be fine now," Todd said. "The Military guys are gone now too. We're free and safe from the Empire. They have no hold over us." 

"They even gave us full amnesty," Amy said. "It's funny, isn't it? We can do whatever we want now, go wherever we want. What are we going to do? Where are we going to go?" 

"I don't really know," Todd said, then gave a bitter laugh. "Isn't it funny how when you have obligations and are tied in to doing something, you always want to be doing something else, but when you're completely free to do anything you want, you can't really think of anything?" 

Amy chuckled softly. "I'm sure I can think of something." She turned and headed back toward the base. As they walked, a Nova came down out of the sky and lighted on the landing platform at Siberia Base. At first she thought it was one of the sentries changing, but realized it wasn't when Mike and Kalli emerged from the ship. 

As Mike began asking around for status updates, Amy approached, unconsciously fingering the device in her pocket before reminding herself that that was probably a bad idea and removing her hands from her pocket, immediately resulting in her hands getting very cold and wishing that she had thought to wear gloves, and hence she returned her hands to her pockets again. "Hey, Mike," she said, approaching the group. 

"Amy Campbell," Mike said. "How did the research go on planet Harris?" 

"Er, we were attacked by Military forces before the blockade went down," Amy said. "One of Penner's devices exploded and killed many of our people, but also drove off the Military ships. Only four of us made it out alive." 

"That's a shame," Mike said. "But at least somebody made it. Did you make any progress on examining Penner's contraptions?" 

Amy pulled the two devices from her pocket. The one in her right hand was the glowing one, vaguely round with knobs around the edge. The second was long and had buttons at one end, none of which apparently did anything when pressed. "I'm uncertain as to whether they still even work or not, or what they even do. Or if they're only parts of a larger device." 

Mike peered at them for a moment and said, "Did you try putting them together?" 

"Hmm, no," Amy said, examining the lower side of the right device. It seemed like the left one would fit into it. She slid the end without the buttons into the bottom of the disc. "I'm sure you're aware this could be dangerous," she muttered. 

"Heh, I live for danger," Mike said casually. With a twist of the rod, it seemed to lock into place. Both parts of the device immediately began glowing. 

"Although all things considered," Amy said, "I doubt this thing is _large_ enough to blow up the whole base. There's only a tiny shard of luminite in there. How the hell does this thing work?" Amy muttered, turning it this way and that and attempting to figure out just how it was supposed to be used. 

"Well, press a button," Mike said. 

"Yeah, yeah," Amy muttered. She ended up holding the rod with the disc down with one hand as it appeared to have been designed, and pressing the blue button, causing the device to hum and glow for a moment. She noticed that the buttons seemed to correspond to the knobs on the edges of the disc, although all the knobs were reddish-brown. However, this was confirmed when one of the knobs suddenly popped out. It twisted and something extended parallel to the rod handle. "What? That's a demagnetizer," Amy said. She experimentally pressed the button again, and the tool retracted into the disc. She tried the other buttons and different tools came out. "So it's a luminite-powered multi-tool, apparently," Amy muttered. "Interesting. At least it'll never need recharging." 

"Hey, that reminds me, Any" Mike said. "Me and Kalli are going off to explore the worlds beyond the fringe in a few weeks, and we're going to need a good scientist on the trip. And I trust you more than some imperial flunky. What do you say?" 

"Only if Todd can come along," Amy said with a grin. 

"Well, sure," Mike said. "Hey, Todd. Got any skills you could contribute to the mission?" 

"Well, I can fix things real well," Todd said. "Particularly things Amy just broke trying to figure out how they worked." 

"Hey!" Amy protested. "That only happened twice." 

"I also minored in geology at university," Todd added. 

"You went to university?" Mike asked. 

"Before they kicked me out at least." 

Mike chuckled softly. "Fine, you're in. We'll be heading back to Toronto in the morning ourselves. You two are welcome to join, but the ship hasn't even been built yet, so it'll still be a while before we leave." 

"Sounds good to me," Amy said. "I've always wanted to see Toronto." 

"I'm going to go get a bite of space ration and some sleep, then," Mike said. "See you in the morning."


	79. Finally, the Last Chapter, Damnit.

And so, in the morning, they woke and went to have a little breakfast before setting off. Although the prospect of eating space rations when not necessary turned Kalli off and she decided to wait for lunch on Coventry. Then they boarded up in Kalli's Nova and Todd's Sabre and set off for the jump hole to Coventry. 

"So we'll have three good pilots," Mike commented. "Fine enough, we can take shifts." 

They crossed part of the known galaxy again in two days and arrived back on Toronto without any trouble. The two ships came down to land at the Imperial Palace. When they climbed out, Amy ended up staring in awe at the towering buildings lit up against the Toronto night. Todd gave a grin and put his arm around her waist. 

Kalli chuckled and said, "Welcome to Toronto. Let's go eat." 

Mike laughed and they went inside for dinner. "Always thinking with your stomach." They proceeded to eat potatoes and gravy, turkey with stuffing, baked corn, hot buttered rolls with worfberry jam, and cold milk. 

"Well, with food like this, can you blame me?" Kalli said brightly. 

After dinner, Talia and Anderos headed back down to the dungeons to question the prisoners further. Direct questions should bring the relevant information to the surface if nothing else. They stood side by side, each of them taking a psyker in the same cell, as the Military had captured so many prisoners now that they had had to double up. Space was at a premium on a Primo planet. 

"Alright, fellas," Talia said. "You're going to answer truthfully here, whether you want to or not. Now listen up. Why did the Chancellor want to breed Primos?" 

There wasn't much response from her prisoner. "I don't know," he grated slowly. His mind wasn't very telling either. 

"Did he want to breed more psykers, is that it?" Talia asked. 

That brought a flash of recognition. "I don't know," the prisoner said. 

"And _why_ did he want to breed psykers?" Talia pressed. 

The prisoner clenched his teeth and tried to suppress the images that were coming to the surface, but it was no use. There came flashes of conversation, images and thoughts. They would create their own personaly army of psykers. The Chancellor's face, over and over. The idea that psykers were somehow better than normal people. The thought that that somehow gave them the right to do whatever they wanted to those people. To control them, to abuse them, to force them to breed more psykers and starve. 

"You are detestable," Talia muttered. She turned and left the cell. 

Anderos followed in confusion a moment later. "What did you get? I didn't get anything useful." 

"I got enough," Talia said as she stalked up the stairs and past the guards. "It was as we suspected," she finally said. "And worse. I still didn't get his ultimate goal, though. Seeing crap like that is a bit disturbing. That psykers are somehow better and that gives us the right to do whatever we want to normals. Gah. Fucking psyker Nazis." She kicked a wall. 

Anderos put a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, Talia. They're all locked up now and they can't do that sort of crap anymore. This sort of thing won't be tolerated and we shall do everything in our power to stop it from ever happening." 

"How do people get these sorts of ideas in the first place, anyway?" Talia wondered, rubbing her eyes. 

"It's a common enough thread in human history," Anderos said. "People feel the need to think of others as somehow inferior in order to make themselves feel better. How they insisted that men were superior to women, people with light skin superior to those with dark skin, the rich superior to the poor, religious people superior to the unreligious, and what now? Psykers superior to normals? Small-minded people who can't handle dealing with others as equals. I'd hoped that we had risen above such petty things, but it would appear people are constantly finding things of which to put others down for." 

Talia sighed. "It just disgusts me that our own kind would act like that." She wiped her face and said, "Let's find the others. They need to know this." 

They found the others in a recreation hall on the third floor watching a holovid. Everyone was there, Kalli and Mike, Jake and Liam, Derek and Neil, Amy and Todd. "Hey, Talia," Mike said. "Come, sit down, we've got chips and fizzy juice." 

Talia and Anderos sat down and took some snacks and beverages. "What are you watching?" Talia asked. 

" _Betrayal of the Thieves_ ," Mike said. "How did the interrogation go?" 

"We found out what we were looking for," Talia said. "The former Chancellor did, in fact, want to build an army of psykers for his own use." 

On the holovid screen, there were people shooting at one another with blasters, ducking behind things, and things blowing up. Jake said, "Well, no worries. We're not going to let them get away with being galactic assholes. I'll be moral support. I'll be standing behind you guys cheering you on. Preferably from a safe distance." 

Derek chuckled softly. "Yes. We shall fight against injustice and stuff of that nature!" 

"And promote freedom for everyone," Todd added. 

"And smite the evil-doers!" Neil said, laughing. 

"Not to mention some of those so-called good-doers," Jake said. 

"Yeah, yeah, the hypocrites," Liam said. 

Kalli yawned broadly. "I think I've been awake too long. Oh well." 

"Heh," Mike said. "Go get some sleep if you want." 

"Nah," Kalli said. "Why miss the party? This is so much more fun." She refilled her cup with fizzy juice. "Even though some of us are going and others of us are staying, we still need to stick together in our hearts. There are things that must be done, and for that we must not sacrifice our ideals and values. That is what they can never take away from us. People with ill intent might take our property, our freedom, our lives, but they cannot take our spirit. We shall endure, through war and through peace, in darkness and in light." 

"We've been brought together in the shadows of oppression," Mike said. "We grew strong from one another, and gave each other strength and hope. We refused to give in when things looked grim. They tried to destroy us and we built a new legacy out from the ashes. We have brought new hope for the galaxy out from under the shadows of oppression. We shall forever fight for freedom, in darkness and in light." 

"We shall work toward peace, even if we must walk through war," Todd said. "We shall fly wherever we so choose, and allow no one to tell us where we can and cannot go. And for that, we shall also fight to preserve the freedom of others to fly where they choose. For the sake of that, and for the sake of hope, we will never surrender. We shall hold to our ideals, in darkness and in light." 

"We shall seek out new homes for our people, far from the rule of the Empire," Amy said. "Where no one can tell us what to do, what to say, what to think. We shall dig out a living for ourselves where the Empire fears to tread. We shall pave the way to the future and make our home in the vastness of space. We shall flourish and thrive, in darkness and in light." 

"We shall say whatever we wish to say," Jake said. "And write whatever we choose to write. And we shall also love whoever we choose to love. No one has any right to tell another person that they cannot do these things. No government has the right to interfere with the lives of its people in this manner, the people who it claims to protect and serve. We shall live life as we choose to life it, in darkness and in light." 

"The Primos have no hold over us," Liam said. "Although they claim that what they believe is right, and the one truth, I do not believe that there is a single, one truth. Nor do I believe that any deities which are truly good would so claim oppression against any good, loving person for any reason. We shall be free to worship what we choose, if we choose to worship anything at all, in darkness and in light." 

"No one person is better than any other," Talia said. "We must remember that, and never allow it to cloud our judgment. We must learn to face one another, not as inferiors or superiors, but as equals. It takes far more strength to be able to face another person as an equal, regardless of their race, background, beliefs, wealth, or abilities. We will hold to this, and as equals we shall forever be, in darkness and in light." 

"We shall embrace true freedom," Anderos said. "From the laws of a government which always sought to rule the galaxy. We shall hold to this, for the sake of allowing all people happiness. There need be no starvation, nor overcrowding, nor rigid laws. Peace and order needs not these things. For the sake of love and happiness we shall fight, in darkness and in light." 

"We will protest against unjust orders," Derek said. "And allow no tyrants to take hold in our worlds. We will fight against those who would seek to rule oppressively to the detriment of others. We will turn away from those who would throw our children into death carelessly. That there are too many people living in this world does not imply that each person is therefore any less valuable than the next. For the sake of our children we shall fight, in darkness and in light." 

"To death we shall face," Neil said. "Fearless until the end. Wherever it is that we fly, in the heart of the Empire or far beyond the fringe, we will always keep these things in mind. For the sake of truth, justice, love and hope, happiness and freedom, we will not surrender to those who would take these things from us. And so, to this end, we shall dance the dance of death, in darkness and in light."


End file.
